2-9-24 After Hours with Amy Lawrence Podcast: Hour 1

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This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. From the Cigar Party without actually smelling like stanky cigars or like any kind of cigars, I was a little worried, actually. Little secret trade secret.

I hope you're not grossed out by it, but it is radio, so I don't suppose it matters much at this point. Neither Jay nor I took a shower before the party because we were worried about the fact that we might smell like cigars. We'd also been warned that because it was Vegas, not only would there be the smell of cigar smoke, there would be the smell of a different kind of smoke.

And so for that reason, neither one of us wanted to go ahead and get showered. And we did dress up. Jay wore a tie.

Producer Jay looked very dapper. And we get there to the M Resort Spa and Casino. We see the red carpet. Actually, we didn't really walk the red carpet. We stood on the red carpet. We'll have to share some photos.

I promise we will. We stood on the red carpet. We got our photos done. And then we promptly stepped out from the plaza just beyond the door and got into the wind and realized that with the wind chills, it was all of something like 30 degrees.

And none of us was wearing proper winter attire. Thankfully, at this cigar party with Mike Ditka, Ron Jaworski, Rudolph Foods, our friends at Rudolph Foods, Southern Recipe Pork Rinds, which by the way, they were everywhere. I promptly gathered up five different bags and stuffed them in my purse. Bob did as well. Jay, did you grab some Southern Recipe Pork Rinds?

I actually didn't. I grabbed too many beef skewers. Right. Jay was all about the beef skewers. They were very good. Anyway, there were Southern Recipe Pork Rinds everywhere.

We were there as part of the push to get the word out, not only about Southern Recipe, but also about Gridiron Grates and the Assistance Fund. And this was a really cool scene, if not for the fact that it was freezing cold. And so people were huddled around space heaters.

No joke. Even in the VIP area, Ron Jaworski and his wife huddled around a space heater. Mark Singleton, his wife, Jay and I, we were up there meeting people huddled around space heaters. Hall of Famers huddled around the space heaters. It's cool to be in a huddle with Hall of Famers.

It's true. The really funny part, though, is that the plaza where they chose to do, it's an incredible outdoor space, the plaza where they chose to do the party had a pool, shallow pool, but it was really cool. There were three lifeguards.

I don't know why. Maybe in the past they had people go in the water. I think Mark's wife mentioned that they weren't necessarily sober or they didn't choose to go in the water at previous parties. But it was beautiful if it wasn't 30 degrees. Three young lifeguards spaced around the pool, up on tall chairs in the wind, just sitting there in case anyone went in the water.

Oh, okay. That's a fun job. They had towels to, like, keep themselves wrapped around them. They were wrapped up. Yes, I said to one of the young women, oh, this has got to be the best job of the night.

And she's like, good, good, good, good, yes, with teeth chattering. Anyway, it was a really cool scene. We've got a couple photos.

Jay and I did stand on the red carpet and get a photo as well. And I came back with hot honey pork rinds for tonight's show. From Las Vegas, our last one of Super Bowl week. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio.

We are at 98.5 HD2 The Bet. And yes, our show is sponsored by Southern Recipe small batch pork rinds. Tonight, even more fun to talk about food, you guys. Bobby Flay, the celebrity chef, the restaurant owner, the author. Apparently, word has it, he's got a brand new cookbook coming out, which will feature not just his 100 top recipes, but photos, presentation.

I can't wait. Anyway, I was blown away. I had a grand time, grand old time talking to Bobby Flay. Also a couple Hall of Famers that we connected with on Radio Row today.

Steve Largent, who you'll hear from in the next 15 minutes, along with Mark Singleton of Rudolph Foods. But also Kellen Winslow. First time I've ever spoken to actually met the tight end who spent his entire career with the San Diego Chargers. Actually, both he and Steve Largent were inducted as part of the 1995 Hall of Fame class. Kellen didn't play high school until his senior year. That's when he played high school football. From that point, he evolved into the 13th overall pick and a Hall of Famer. And he's an old decade team member. He's one of the top 100 players of all time. It was really neat to be able to talk to him because he would rather talk about anything else except for football.

That was the cool part. I could have talked to Kellen Winslow for hours. So Steve Largent, Kellen Winslow, Bobby Flay, a couple old friends of mine that I haven't seen in years. Merrill Hodge, who's a former Steelers and Bears running back. His response to Mark Ingram's rant about how the NFL devalues running backs is epic.

As in epic. It's like the rebuttal to Mark Ingram. And keep in mind, Merrill played the same position, just in a different era.

His perspective is fire. Now you can decide who you agree with. Whether you think that running backs are being devalued. Whether you believe they deserve to be paid more. That NFL owners should change their view on the value of the running back position as a whole. Because it's not a testament to one particular person or even a handful of actual running backs.

No, it's about the position and the value of the position. Merrill Hodge takes a different bent. And I'm telling you, it's fire. I haven't spoken to Merrill since I left my previous network. So this was really neat to be able to catch up with him. And actually, he is in great health, great shape after going through not just cancer and beating cancer, also having open heart surgery and a bunch of other health maladies. He's great. And he also has a new product that he is using himself that is about your respiratory health.

So he's really about that as well. It was cool to talk to him. He's very passionate about the things that he believes in. My old friend, Trey Wingo, who's got, you guys, an incredible new show that I can't wait to listen to.

You'll love it. And he's a hoot. There's one thing that Trey and I have in common outside of our background in broadcasting, but I won't tell you what it is. You'll have to wait and you'll have to listen. Am I missing anyone, Producer J?

We were busy on Radio Row. Oh, Daniel Kaplan. You know what? Even if I told you who he was, you wouldn't know because we just met him for the first time.

But you know what he has? Intel on how the NFL is going to use AI on the streaming services that have been recently introduced and how the NFL is not happy about this brand new streaming platform that was just announced and a bunch of other really cool kind of business elements with sports. And so if you're a nerd like me, which some of you are, you'll really enjoy that as well. Because Jay and I were so crazy busy on Thursday. No naps. I actually found a salad to eat. Did you end up eating anything? Just a lot of beef skewers at the party. That was my dinner. Yep. Right, so Jay skipped his meal today like I skipped meals on Tuesday, but Bob came into town and promptly went to get me a salad.

That's how you know it's true love. I need a Bob. Yeah, you do need a Bob. You need a wingman that will get you a salad. Anyway, we housed the salads. They were good. I told you, I brought you Southern Recipes small batch pork rinds.

I'm going to have to get a kebab. But actually you can't eat them until I take a photo. We got to stage a photo with our credentials. Anyway, we were so busy all day long that we didn't really have much of a chance to post photos unless Jay did and I just don't know it. Did you? Posted a real, just a little teaser reel with you and Bobby when we first got there. Bobby Flay. Okay, so check out our show Twitter after hours CBS because that's where he posted a quick real also on Facebook.

Okay, so our show Twitter after hours CBS plus on Facebook, and that's named after the show it's easy to find. I did post. So Jay took a photo of me. We were trying to get a picture of Pooka Nakua, but every time we were trying to get like a funny photo of Pooka really not paying attention to us. And every time we tried to stab a photo his back was to us turning around.

He did it on purpose wiggling like he knew. And so it's deep into the week, and the delirium kicked in, and we were being extremely goofy. So one of the photos that Jay took of me will crack you up you should check it out on Twitter a lot radio. So we have some fun stories to tell about who we saw today, Damar Hamlin dazzled by a magic trick.

It was pretty darn cool. Josh Allen. Another story about Josh Allen so Josh Allen was there on radio row today, he had an entourage What would you say Jay, at least 15 people, minimum, it was like a tail on it was, it was a large crowd of people. The only other person that I've ever seen hold court.

Well I shouldn't say hold court. The only people in his wake, surrounding him, Tim Tebow, going back to San Francisco, when Tim entered the convention center in San Francisco, there was this crazy buzz. It was, it was insane I've never heard anything like it, and he had an entourage and hangers on and people following him. That was eight years ago. So here we are and it's Josh Allen, and he does an interview on radio row with Maggie and Perloff actually who follow us here on CBS So that's why you're here it, and he was Hawking subway.

Oh gosh they left some kind of like crazy long delicious cookie that I think I ate half of. But the neat thing about Josh Allen had nothing to do with his interview, so we'll tell you about that coming up. Cam Newton. I don't know what he had time to get a different haircut, but oh my goodness.

I think he does it on purpose. Jay took. Jay was determined to take a photo of cams hair. We love cam.

Okay, we think cam is great. I do not know what he was going for with it looked like no Jay, Jay you said this first so I'll give you credit for it. It looked like the man had a giant tarantula on the top of his head. Like a scene at eight, eight legged freaks. It looks like there was eight legged freaks in on radio row because of Cam Newton's hair.

It was insane, but he again you want to talk about a crowd that made attracts a crowd everywhere he goes. So yes, we've got all kinds of fun stories today we've been taking notes. We talked to Hall of Famers. Bobby Flay gave us the perfect recipe for your Super Bowl party coming up on Sunday, but forget that we asked him what he's not good at. Oh, the answer is classic. So good.

Jay and I had so much fun with Bobby Flay. So we're just getting started. As we get into these next few minutes though, the news, because, yes, in fact, Lamar Jackson is the NFL MVP for the second time in his career. He got all 50 first place votes for MVP. I'm a little surprised by that I considered.

I consider the body of work. And I know that at the end of the regular season not counting week 18 when he didn't play. He was terrific. He really did win the MVP based on what the Ravens did in the final, we'll say final quarter of the season. The way they thrashed so many other teams that were headed for the playoffs. For instance, the Rams. They scored 37 points against the Rams. They scored 34 points against the Chargers, or excuse me, against the Bengals, though I believe Joe Burrow was out at that point. But the Bengals were still holding on to hopes of being a playoff team. They beat the Jaguars in Jacksonville 23 to 7. They throttled the Niners on the road and put 33 up against that defense.

And then, against the Dolphins, back in Baltimore in week 17, 56 points. And so Lamar easily runs away with the MVP. Actually, he got all of the first place votes except for one. So he was not a unanimous first place vote getter. Remember, he did that in 2019. This year he got all of the votes except for one. So forgive me for that. I missed it.

I was looking at the stuff from 2019 for some reason. Anyway, the only other first place vote went to Josh Allen. Dak Prescott, no first place votes. Christian McCaffrey, no first place votes. Brock Purdy, no first place votes. And then you had a handful of votes each for Tyreek Hill, Patrick Mahomes, even Matthew Stafford got a couple of fourth place votes, which is interesting and had four points. But Lamar ends up as the runaway and it was a landslide NFL MVP.

At 27 years old, he's the youngest ever to have two of these season MVP awards. Though what we know about Lamar is he wants to be a billionaire and he wants to be a champion, which means that he would trade this MVP for the Ravens to still be playing and to be here in Las Vegas. Can we hear from him or do we need to wait? You let me know. Oh, no. Well, if we can't do it, we can wait. First and foremost, you know, I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you know, without him.

Nothing is possible. I want to thank my organization, you know, Baltimore Ravens for, you know, finally getting this deal done. Shout out to Eric, you know, shout out to Steve, Coach Harbaugh, you know, the whole, the whole unit, my offense, man, my offensive line, man, I can't thank them enough for what they've done. I'm not out there blocking, you know, catching the ball, you know, doing everything, you know, as my team, it's a team thing, you know, for these awards. And, you know, I want to thank my family at home. But you guys have a great night and that's all, folks.

They didn't have to give him the hook because he was relatively quick. So Lamar Jackson, two-time NFL MVP, similar to Patrick Mahomes. Otherwise, the Browns had a field day with the awards at NFL Honors on Thursday. My goodness, Kevin Stefanski, Coach of the Year, the Defensive Player of the Year, Miles Garrett, Comeback Player of the Year, Joe Flacco. He actually just beat out DeMar Hamlin. I know there's a lot of people who are voting for DeMar simply to be back on a football field at any point.

Everything that he went through in 2023. It's certainly a fun kind of piece of trivia now about Joe Flacco. People were quibbling about whether or not he should get the award considering that he only played a handful of games, but whatever. The Texans sweep both the offensive and defensive rookies of the year for CJ Strad and Will Anderson. Bodes well for them because they already won the AFC South. Members similar to last year, right, with the New York Jets, who had Garrett Wilson and Saus Gardner, who were the offensive and defensive rookies of the year. Of course, if they had a quarterback, they might be in the playoffs this year as well.

So yeah, a lot of fun. The NFL Honors, the red carpet. Lamar looked dapper as well.

I don't know, Jay. I don't think he looked as dapper as you. Jay was wearing a tie.

Like an actual tie. Of course. I liked it. Looked good? Bob wasn't wearing a tie. No. Bob was wearing a sweater and he was still shivering.

You look nice. Were you shivering? I was freezing.

Absolutely freezing. All right, so find me on Twitter, ALawRadio. We're going to have photos, videos, everything of the sort. Jay was busy. We were all busy. Thursday went by in a veritable blur, to be sure.

We've, coming up, got Steve Largent, a Hall of Famer, who we interviewed earlier in the season, but different now. And actually, he was gone at the party. We got to the party, what, five minutes after it started? Ten minutes after it started? About. We were VIPs, so we didn't have to wait in line. I'm using my air quotations.

VIPs. And Steve was already gone, because he was too cold. He didn't want anything to do with the cold. So Steve Largent did not stick around for very long. Gold jacket did not keep it warm.

No, apparently it's not insulated. Steve Largent and our friend Mark Singleton of Rudolph Foods and Southern Recipe Pork Rinds, straight ahead. We've got some awesome conversations from our final day on Radio Row. We'll have the pictures, we'll have the videos. Oh yeah, stories to tell.

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Jay's posting a variety of photos and reels throughout the show and also on Twitter After Hours CBS. Of course, we spent five, six hours on Radio Row earlier this afternoon and encountered a pair of Hall of Famers. Steve Largent, he was the 1995 class, spent his entire career with the Seahawks, also the Man of the Year in 1988. And his career finished in the 70s and ran all the way through the 80s.

And along with the VP of Rudolph Foods, Mark Singleton, we sat down together. We were talking about the Gridiron Grates Assistance Fund and why it's so important. Because most fans believe your average player makes $10 million per year, Steve. But it's really only the upper echelon of the league. No one in the 70s and the 80s when you played. So what are fans missing? As fans today, what do they not know? What Coach Mike Ditka saw in his playing days and in his coaching days and then after that, is he saw a lot of his teammates and people that went before him that were really hurting. That didn't have the money or the resources to address a lot of the concerns that they have.

Whether that's clothes or cars or needing surgeries or whatever, medicine. And those guys were really hurting. And so he wanted to do something to try to help those guys and address those deficiencies that they had in their life. And so that's what he started the Gridiron Grates Assistance Fund. And that's what it exactly does.

It assists the Gridiron Grates. These guys were guys that the league was built on their shoulders and now they're out in the cold and they need help. And so Mike saw that and has addressed it. And it's not like Mike's charity helps everybody all the time because they just don't have enough money to do that.

But he's helping the most needy and I support him 100%. The benefits, the medical care, the attention to concussions and other types of injuries. Now the technology is so different than it was when you played. And I don't recall from your career if you ever had a serious concussion. But even just head injuries, the way they're treated now is so different. And I know a lot of former athletes are dealing with the ramifications of injuries they suffered decades ago. Yeah, I suffered multiple concussions and went back in the game and played most of the time. They didn't know about serious repercussions of possibly playing while you've had a concussion.

So anyway, that was yesterday. And there are a lot of guys that, you know, they played for pennies and were injured. And Mike's trying to address those guys.

I don't get awestruck very often, but I think Mike Ditka would do it. I got to tell you the funniest thing he ever did was we were sitting at the party one night and we're drinking and I said, Coach, my mother has been a fan forever when you were with Cowboys, when you're with. And he goes, well, I should meet her someday. I said, let's FaceTime her right now. And he goes, let's FaceTime her. What's FaceTime?

And we FaceTime my mom. And he was so delightful and so sweet and just such a, you know, what you'll see is the players, the camaraderie, the band of brothers. That's been such a thrill for me to see Mel Renfro and Mel Blunt.

Mel Blunt, yeah. You know, rivals on the field, but tremendous friends off the field. And you know more about that than I do, but it really is a remarkable party and a remarkable brotherhood that you'll see firsthand.

You'll have a blast. And the food's great and there's pork rinds there. Okay, good. I am so, so grateful that your company partners with us, Southern Recipe Pork Rinds.

We've been dropping it all over Radio Row on our show at night. We're talking up. And so to the point where someone saw a photo of our table and the snacks and said, where are the pork rinds? And I said, oh, we ate them. Well, that's what I said. I was like, we downed them.

We ate them. But Steve Largent is wearing his Hall of Fame jacket. Is it a jacket? Coat? It would be a jacket. I don't want to disrespect it. Okay. Hall of Fame jacket.

It's a special shade of gold. The announcement is coming up. There are men who will hear that same announcement, get the phone call, find out the way that you did. What do you remember about finding out yourself that you would be going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

You know what? I was at a church where my son was playing basketball and got a phone call. And they said, hey, we just want you to know you've been elected to the Hall of Fame. And you'll get more information from us. Congratulations.

Click. And then the Seahawks called me, and they tell me the same thing. So then they hung up. I turned to my wife. I said, you're not going to believe this. She said, what? I said, I was voted in the Hall of Fame.

She goes, you're kidding. You were? I was excited. That made me more excited about it. But it's still one of those kind of life experiences that you go, is this real or is this surreal? Because it was just awesome. I just got married seven weeks ago, and people had told me for months, you won't remember a thing.

It's a blur. Now, I'm the opposite. I remember everything, including all the things that didn't go the way they were supposed to. Do you remember the enjoyment day as it happened and all the details of the people? I remember most of it. I don't remember all of it, especially the stuff after the enjoyment performance or whatever, because they had the party afterwards, and that's what I don't remember as much of. But there were a lot of people there, and it was a lot of fun, and we had a great time.

It was very, very memorable. Good. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio on Radio Row. And with the Seahawks, they've just changed coaches, right? So Pete Carroll, he fought for his coaching job. He wanted to stay there, but they've decided to go in a different direction.

It's a younger trend, right? What do you think of the Seahawks and the way they're changing directions? I think it's good. I love Pete Carroll, and I love what he did for the franchise.

I love the Seahawks, and I always will. But I think that Pete's 72 years old, and not that that's the end of the world or anything like that, but I think it's time to have a younger coach in there and a guy that has a vision, a guy that can really produce. I really think Mike McDonald can. Now, I'm not going to say he's a guarantee, he's going to do it for sure, because there's been a lot of guys not be able to coach that you thought could, but I think he can do it, and I think that he's a defensive coach, and I think winning starts on defense always, but I think that he's going to do a great job, and I'm looking forward to seeing his results. It's interesting the trend among both coaches and quarterbacks, right, where it's gotten younger. We had a retirement of a bunch of the Hall of Fame QBs, and now more than a third of the league are in their early to mid-20s starting. But coaches now, same thing, right? So Andy Reid's the oldest, he's 65. Jim Harbaugh is, in fact, 60, though people don't think that. But it's a bunch of 30-somethings that are getting their first jobs ever as head coaches.

What's your reaction to that? You know, I don't think you can judge how well they'll do. We've got to watch and see, but I don't know very many of them. I haven't studied very many of his background besides Mike McDonald because he's with the Seahawks, but it's a different league now. It very much caters to a younger mindset, and so I hope they'll all be successful, but we'll see.

Yeah, it'll be fun. This question is one just because I don't do a lot in politics, but you hear about how it's pretty crazy on Capitol Hill, right? You spent how many years on Capitol Hill? Eight years. So what is more nerve-wracking, staring down one of the best DBs in the league or standing there on Capitol Hill and having to address your colleagues in that respect? It was a little intimidating to address my colleagues as a member of Congress, but you get used to it.

Are there any comparisons? Well, maybe none that I can repeat. Well, Mark and Steve Argin, thank you Southern Recipe Pork Rinds for sponsoring us here in Las Vegas. We've been friends for a long time. At least we're old, of course.

I'm old, you're not. We've had a good run this summer and this winter. She's been on a roll, and the real important thing, you know this, is we're going to be celebrating the biggest pigskin holiday of the year on Sunday. PorkRindDay.com, couple days left.

You can win $5,000, 15 months supply of pork rinds. There you go. And have a lot of fun.

Yes, I'm looking forward to it. Thank you. All right, thank you. Thank you all. PorkRindDay.com. That's how you can enter to win because pigskin day, the annual pigskin day, it's here. Can you believe it? We're almost to Super Bowl Sunday.

The last few days have, in fact, gone by in a blur, but it is our privilege to rep after hours on Radio Row and be able to bring these conversations to you. And still to come, another Hall of Famer, first time I've ever spoken to Kellen Winslow. Same class as Steve Largent. He's a tight end, and his story is so unique.

You'll love it. Merrill Hodge, who does not believe that running backs are devalued, or if he does, he's got a unique way of putting it. Bobby Flay. Bobby Flay.

You do not want to miss him. He was awesome. Very animated.

A lot of fun. Our first conversation from Thursday. We're already sharing photos and videos. So on Twitter, A Law Radio, our Facebook page too, After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

Jay's got, I mean, he's got more that he's working on behind the scenes, and so at some point he'll put together a YouTube montage as well. At the top of the hour, we'll have Merrill Hodge here on the back of the hour. Yeah, more of the awards and also the Hall of Fame announcement as well, because, you know, there's actual football going on too.

Fine. Oh yeah, this portion of the show brought to you by our friends at Rudolph Foods and Southern Recipes Small Batch Pork Rinds. Between this pork rind giveaway and delicious recipes, you'll want to ask your friends to pass the pigskin, and you can do it at porkrindday.com. Coming up, the 15th annual Pork Rind Appreciation Day. It always coincides with the biggest game on the calendar in any sport.

No matter what the month, Super Bowl tops it, right? We're going to have a third of the United States of America tuning into this game on Sunday. We agree on nothing else in the U.S. Nothing. Okay, very little. I won't go crazy hyperbole on you, but we agree on very little in the U.S., but we do agree on football, and the rest of the world is coming around on American football.

London, Germany, Mexico, soon Brazil. Stop giving our games away. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You can find us on Twitter, After Hours CBS. We've been taking photos and videos, and we can't wait to share more with you, and then also on our Facebook page. The traffic on our social media this week has been phenomenal. You all have blown up both of our social pages.

We haven't even gotten to our YouTube channel. We are still putting together a montage of different videos and moments from the week, and obviously we've got more stories to tell. DeMar Hamlin got caught up in a magic trick, and we were part of the crowd around him. It was really cool, and also this great Josh Allen moment that I witnessed, and I said, J.J., look. It was awesome. It was a private moment, and yet it was out there for all the world to see, everybody that was hanging around on Radio Row.

We tried to get photos, for instance, with Puka Nakua just to photobomb him, and every time we tried, he turned around. We think it was on purpose, so instead it was just the two of us laughing like hyenas, and we also interviewed a couple Hall of Famers, one of whom you just heard in Steve Largent, Kellen Winslow still to come on the show, also Merrill Hodge, former Steelers running back, longtime broadcaster. He's now actually an inspirational speaker because his story, while it is inspirational, the way he tells it, he really takes you alongside with him and gets you to believe that if he can survive what he has, then you can do it too. AI, how will it affect the NFL in the future? What about this new streaming platform that is a joint effort among three different major media conglomerates? What's the reaction among NFL types and other pro sports leagues? It may not be what you think, and so we got a lot of good stuff still ahead on this edition of the show, but the NFL honors were handed out on Thursday night in Vegas, so Thursday is the day that we saw more of the active players and more of the buzz around them, right? So Radio Row was hopping.

It was jumping, I'm not sure which one's cooler, on Thursday because so many current players and award nominees were in town. We told you Lamar Jackson earned his second NFL MVP just shy of being two in a row that are unanimous, right? So in 2019, he won all 50 first place votes. This year, it's 49 of 50, which is pretty incredible. Christian McCaffrey, not the MVP, but he's the first Niner ever to win the AP Offensive Player of the Year since Jerry Rice.

It's been a long time going back to the early 90s when Jerry Rice claimed this award, and now Christian McCaffrey in his first full season with the Niners is the AP Offensive Player of the Year. Lastly, my teammates. Man, I can't even put into words how much I love you guys. This has been the most fun I've ever had playing football. I'm not up here without you. Football is the greatest game on the planet. It's the biggest team sport in the world, and we're so lucky to get to enjoy it, and the fact that I get to go to battle with you guys every week is one of my greatest honors because of the way you guys play football and inspire me every single day.

I'm not up here without you. I love you guys. We got one more. Let's go finish it the right way.

Appreciate it, guys. A little nerd alert for you when it comes to awards and Super Bowls. Now, you know that it's rare that an NFL MVP wins a Super Bowl, okay? So we remember last year that Patrick Mahomes was the NFL MVP, and then he also was on the winning team in the Super Bowl, okay? But it's not a common thing.

Generally, it's considered one of those curses, which I don't really believe in. Well, it's only a handful of times ever that a player who's won Offensive Player of the Year honors also was on the winning Super Bowl team. So we'll see if Christian McCaffrey becomes only the sixth to win both in the same season in NFL history. And what about the Cleveland Browns?

How about this? Not only do they end up using five different quarterbacks, still make the playoffs as a wild card in the toughest division in football, but they had more awards than any other team at the NFL Honors. Coach of the Year, Kevin Stefanski, that's really a no-brainer, though there were some other awesome coaching jobs this season.

We know that for sure. Myles Garrett, 14 sacks, 17 tackles for loss, a handful of forced fumbles, top-ranked defense. He is the Defensive Player of the Year, though there are a lot of people who consider this to be a snub of T.J. Watt. Joe Flacco, Comeback Player of the Year. Remember, he told us about midway through the season.

He was sitting on his couch. I'm just honored to be up here and get to enjoy it all with you guys. Big thanks to the city of Cleveland and just everybody in Cleveland. I want to say thank you to my teammates just for welcoming me into that locker room. At that point in the year, to welcome a new guy is not the easiest thing, so I want to say thank you to those guys. I want to say thank you to the organization for just giving me the opportunity to do what I love to do, and that's play football. I want to say thank you to the city just for making me and my family feel at home for a couple months, truly special. Before I get out of here, I want to say thank you to my beautiful wife.

None of this would be possible without her running the show back at home and being the woman that she is. So thank you, guys. Now, see, okay, comeback player of the year indeed, Joe Flacco, but it is sort of funny that he mentions my home for a couple months.

And also, it's crazy to think about. He was a Super Bowl MVP 11 years ago, 11 years ago. In fact, that was our first Super Bowl postgame show in 2013. We had Ravens and Niners. It went down to the wire. Ravens were able to hold off the Niners who had a comeback in the second half. It was New Orleans.

The lights went out. I'll never forget it. Flacco was the MVP of that game as the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2013. He was out of the league for the first two and a half months of this past season but had over 1,600 yards passing, 13 touchdown passes in five regular-season games. And the Browns don't make the playoffs without him.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio from Las Vegas and our affiliate, 98.5 HD2 The Bet. Producer Jay, should he be allowed to win comeback player of the year for five games? I don't love it.

I don't love it. I mean, he was great, but I just think there's other guys who are more deserving. And just one guy who wasn't even up for the award, Breeze Hall and the Jets, who tore his ACL last year and then rushed for, I think he was four yards short of 1,000 yards this season on a bad team with a horrible offensive line, not even under consideration. I mean, he had a much more comeback year than Flacco did. All right, so Joe Flacco, pretty incredible story, though, all things being considered. And he just edges out DeMar Hamlin.

Oh, and Baker Mayfield, your boy Baker. He was the third-place vote-getter for comeback player of the year. He had a great comeback year. I don't think he should have won it, but I like that he's up for consideration.

You know what's interesting? Brock Purdy had a handful of votes for comeback player of the year, and that doesn't really make sense to me. I don't get it. I know he had the torn UCL and had the surgery, but he, other than missing the second half, well, actually, not even the whole second half of the NFC Championship last year, he played... Well, once he took over, he played every game, so that one's odd.

I don't really get that one. Anyway, Tua, I thought, would get a few more votes than what he did. He did get four first-place votes. The other award for the Browns, first-year D coordinator Jim Schwartz, named the assistant coach of the year because the Browns gave up the fewest yards per game in the league in almost a decade. It's after hours on our Facebook page, on Twitter, after hours, CBS, top of the hour. Merrill Hodge sat down with us for an extensive conversation on Radio Row, and he gets into the mud, let me just tell you. He does not hold back because he's lived a lot of life.

What does it say? I just actually labeled the AFC North the toughest division in football. I believe that. If you look at the standings, of course, that makes sense. Considering that every team in that division was still in the running for playoffs going into the final couple weeks, and every team finished above.500.

Well, how about this? The MVPs from the North, four different award winners from the North with the Cleveland Browns, right? We just named them all. The Steelers, well, they have the man of the year in Cam Hayward, the guy we were just listening to interview James Conner on Radio Row on Wednesday. He is class, he's leadership, and of course he comes from one of the steeped traditions in the NFL.

So excited for Cam Hayward. This award is great, and I appreciate it, but I understand I got more work to do. I got to make sure I represent this man every day going forward. And so I ask you guys, my brothers, keep doing the work. Keep being the positive role models you are.

I know it's not always pretty. I know a lot of people like to talk about the other stuff, but you guys are the change. You guys are making a difference, and I'm just thankful for that. And last thing, if you are a young child or you knew a part of the youth, just know whether you're struggling, you're hurting, and you're just looking for somebody to have your back, I got you. So thank you so much. God bless.

Good night. Cam Hayward, longtime Steelers D-lineman, the Walter Payton Man of the Year. And it's really neat to hear these guys give tribute and pay homage to Walter Payton. And he says, I want to do more in order to be worthy of this award. If you don't know what he does in terms of his charitable projects, what's near and dear to his heart, kiddos.

So fighting hunger among children and also helping children learn how to read, even if it's a little bit later in life. So he's got a huge heart. He's a huge mountain of a man. We enjoyed watching him with a microphone on Radio Row on Wednesday. Another former Steeler, well, a former Steeler, Merrill Hodge, next Top of the Hour. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence from Las Vegas here on CBS Sports Radio.

A peanut butter M&M's production. In a world where Super Bowl winners get the world's admiration and a fancy ring, but the runners up get nothing, one retired cop returns. That's one retired quarterback. Read the script.

Oh, sorry. One retired quarterback returns to claim what's his. That's claim a ring with diamonds made from M&M's peanut butter, but you're on a roll. The Ring of Comfort, coming soon to a Super Bowl new you.

Yeah, Graybar does that. 2024 Santa Fe available early 2024.