01-07-25 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2
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Welcome back to the real world. Man, we're post-

NFL regular season headed toward the playoffs and we're post holidays headed back into the grind. So those two worlds merging and here we are. We've got a lot of football to talk about. Oh man, I made a major faux pas on our last show that I will have to correct. I promised you the updates on the neighbor's light and flowers.

and sugar because, haha, that sounds like I'm baking something, because you all keep asking and we're talking about a Black Monday that could have been darker. It wasn't quite as dark. Maybe there are more coaching changes to come, but at this point it's just been a handful. And so we'll continue to walk through what we know and what we do not. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence at

KLAW Radio is where you can find me online. Our Facebook page too. Later this hour, the candidates for TD of the week because we had some doozies, some game winners to wrap up the end of the regular season. Hard to believe 272 games in the books. Of those, Gerard Mayo and the Patriots won just four. Though they did finish the season with a win and Bob Kraft promptly fired the man that he handpicked

to succeed Bill Belichick. I know that he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job. In the end, I'm a fan of this team first. And now I have to go out and find a coach who can get us back to the

Playoffs and hopefully championships. A somewhat apologetic, definitely emotional, maybe even distressed, upset, torn up.

That was Bob Kraft and the impressions that I got from his voice and his body language. But we want to talk to Karen Garigian, who covers the Patriots, gosh, 40 years for MassLiveSports now. And she joins us from Boston. Karen, you were there. You listened to the owner of the Patriots. What did you take away from what Bob Kraft had to say on Monday? He took accountability. He said, blame him. He made a mistake. I mean, he still thinks Gerard Mayo...

will be a good coach. It was just too soon. You know, he put him into the role too soon. And then what he described as an untenable situation, uh,

And, you know, I think by that, he was inheriting one of the worst rosters, if not the worst roster in the NFL. He was succeeding a six-time Super Bowl winning head coach in New England. He had no experience as a head coach. He wasn't even a defensive coordinator. He was a linebackers coach. And as smart as Sherrod Mayo is,

As well as he knows football, there's just more that goes into being a head coach. And I think Gerard learned that the hard way. If it was just simple, just a matter of coaching, that's one thing. But all the things you have to deal with, dealing with the media and dealing with days in, days off, all those kind of things.

You know, if you haven't done it before, it's hard to manage the first time around. And I really don't think he had much in the way of help. I mean, I know some coaches like Sean McVay, you know, when he first, his early years, he had Wade Phillips on his sideline. And, you know, there really weren't any head coach types around.

with him. Ben McAdoo was like a senior assistant, but, you know, in terms of guidance or someone to say, hey, Gerard, you know, don't do that. Gerard, you might want to do that this way. There was nobody there kind of guiding him that way. So he made some mistakes. And mostly, though, what Robert Kraft said was, you know, after their relationship,

surprising win in the season opener against Cincinnati, he thought the team regressed. And it was more like from the midpoint on, you know, he was looking for any sign of progress or any sign that even with a bad roster, there was a culture being built, that they were headed in a positive direction.

And it just never happened. Gerard talked a lot about players not being repeat offenders with mistakes, but he was repeating. He was making the same type of mistakes with the media and saying things that he would have to say back the next day. He would say he was benching someone on the radio or to the TV people. And this was a running back. And on game day, the running back started. So it was just...

confounding, you know, all his missteps and the last home game prior to this one, the fans were chanting fire Mayo and the booze and the empty seats. You know, I think all these things added up to, you know, Robert saying, okay, look,

I made a mistake, and he had to move on. So you mentioned the fans. I was actually going to ask Karen, how much do you think the fans' reaction and their disappointment and disgust with the season played into this? Yeah, Robert actually acknowledged, not directly, but in some of the things he said, you know, he said he's a fan.

And the team is owned by the fans, more or less. And he's just a custodian. It's a fan-based team. In that way, I think he was telling us he was listening to the unrest and the booing. And, I don't know, Gerard just touched off this story.

firestorm of people who just didn't like him. And it didn't look like it was going to head back in the other direction. So when he talks about wanting to get someone in place quickly, what's he looking for as the next head coach of the Patriots? Given the mistake he made, I'm going to go for a coach, someone with some experience and someone who

who no matter the type of roster they get,

It's going to, you know, make the best out of that roster, get what they can out of that roster, you know, while they're working to get better parts in and so on and so forth. But I do think as bad as a roster was, as low as expectations were, I think the crafts thought that there were still, there were some more wins in there that, you know,

the team didn't get and perhaps would have a better coach, a more experienced coach. I'm talking like in-game situations and stuff like that. They might have been a 6-7 win team instead of a 4-4 win team.

Karen Garigian is with us from MassLive covering the Patriots and what was a very quick change and a quick hook by Bob Kraft. Right after the Pats wrapped the season with a win, he fires Gerard Mayo and gave his remarks on Monday. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The obvious talk now has turned to Mike Vrabel. I know the name was brought up at the press conference with Mr. Kraft. What did he say? He dodged that one.

He dogs that word. So there's a lot of interesting candidates out there and he's still getting to know who all the candidates are. But I don't want to call it a slam dunk, but Vrabel checks off so many boxes. One, the experience factor. He's had a measure of success. He comes from the Patriots. He won three Super Bowls. So there's a familiarity about him.

And I think the crafts like people they're familiar with, like to work with people that they, you know, have a good sense about who they are and what they can provide. Gerard was in there. Even Bill Belichick. Bill Belichick was in as a defensive coordinator.

for Bill Parcells when Parcells was here. You know, Robert got to know Bill through Bill Parcells because he was on the coaching staff. So that familiarity, especially now, I mean, Robert's 83. Having a coach that he's, you know, knows the dynamics, is aware of the history, is aware of the fan base, has a good understanding of what Robert expects from

I'm not saying that they won't go outside. I just think Mike Grable is almost a match made in heaven for Robert. But I also think if Robert's trying to get them out of the gutter and to get some goodwill back with the fan base, I think Mike Grable is basically the best option

Turned it around, quick fix solution out there. So we'll see whether or not it's someone from internal or someone from outside. But how important do you think it is that it's someone who can work with Drake May after they kind of saw some real positive signs with him? Yeah, well, I think if you do hire someone like Mike Rabel, the head coach, he, like Gerard, is the defensive-minded guy. Although Mike Rabel has had a little more time to...

to get to know, you know, more about the offensive side of it. I mean, he was in Cleveland as a consultant, and he was working with the offense. But I think that was intentional. You know, it kind of makes you a much more well-rounded candidate and, you know, for the next job. And, I mean, let's face it, the league is so offensive-driven that, you know, some really good –

defensive coaches are kind of, I want to say eliminated from the coaching mix, but not perhaps given the same type of shot because everyone wants the great offensive mind. And that's why Ben Johnson is such a hot candidate from Detroit right now. The Patriots have put in a requested interview with him. I think it's great that they will interview him and talk to him.

But I think when push comes to shove, Robert isn't going to make the same mistake again and not pick someone who's at least had some head coaching experience. But I will say it's good that they will bring in candidates now. They didn't do that with Gerard. It was written in Gerard's contract that he was going to succeed Bill at some point. And so there was no coaching search there.

But the benefit of a coaching search is, or any search for GM or whatever, you get to talk to people and kind of hear their ideas. And you get to hear their ideas of how they would fix what was broke. And I think that's an important thing for any organization to

when they're making a hire, just to hear ideas, hear what people think. And even if you know who you think you're going to hire, sometimes you might change your view. Or, I mean, this is one of the best cases I can bring up for you. At the Pittsburgh Steelers, when Bill Cower left, everyone thought, everyone was writing and everyone assumed that

that they were going to replace Cowell with one of his coordinators, whether it was the defensive coordinator or the offensive coordinator. That didn't happen. The current coach came in for an interview and basically blew them away. And guess what? He's been there 100 years, has had a winning record every single year. I guess the point is you don't know.

until you go through the process. Right. If you go through it. For my money, even if Mike Rabel is the favorite and there's no question that he is, it still will be good for them. Again, hear other things. As I said, Mike Tomlin came in and blew away the Steelers and they went with him and they haven't been sorry since. Right.

Good point. Very good point. Karen Garigian is with us from Boston as the Patriots are already underway in their search for what will be their third head coach in three years. I haven't had a chance to talk to you actually, Karen, since Bill Belichick took the UNC job. What was your reaction to that move? Stunned. Shocked. Stunned. If you find out that nobody wanted him in the NFL, sure. He wanted a coach.

And the situation at North Carolina, you know, his father had coached there. But the type of autonomy they're giving him, the control they're giving him, that would have been essential in any NFL job that he took. He wants to run it. He wants his people in. And if UNC was willing to give him what he wanted, sure. Sure.

And I think his contract is such that on a chance that an NFL job is out there and somebody is actually wanting him after a year or two, I think he has an out where he can go. So whether that happens or not, I don't know. Bill is a coach. He's willing to go to the college level and continue his passion at age 73.

I like that he's collecting people with him in Chapel Hill that he worked with in New England. It's

It's interesting the number of people, maybe similar to what you were talking about with Robert Kraft, in that he wants to have people around him that he trusts and that he knows can hit the ground running and they can start right away and begin to make the changes that he desires. Back to the Patriots, they've got not the number one pick, which they were in line for had they not won on Sunday, but they end up with the number four pick. We know they have a quarterback, so why?

What else do they need? That's not a fair question. What direction could they potentially go with that pick?

I was going to say, when you say what do they need, I'm going to say pick a position, any position. They've been ignoring tackle for years. Their offensive line is terrible. And they need a left tackle. They need a right tackle. But left, we'll start with a left tackle. They thought by...

Signing a right tackle in free agency last year and drafting a right tackle in the third round last year that somehow those people could make the switch over to left. And no, that just did not happen. I would say tackle. But again, you know how these things work. Free agency comes first. They have...

$130 million or so in cap space. So they have a ton of cap space and a ton of money. So they're going to have to try and convince some free agents that New England is the place to go. The tackle market and free agency coming up is pretty good, unlike last year. They need, as always, a game-changing number one receiver. They need...

An edge rusher, pass rusher. They could use linebacker help. They could use help on the defensive line. Let's just list, as I said, let's list about everything. If it's me, help on the offensive line is number one. And then receiver number two.

And you can flip a coin on the rest of it. I know for years, Karen, you and along with the rest of the Patriots media contingent, we're covering playoff games. Is it odd now to have kind of this mini drought for a couple of years?

It is odd. It's like you feel out of place. Because, again, they were always there. It's like you knew you weren't getting your break until after the Super Bowl. In saying that, that's not a bad thing. It was always great to be at these games and have something on the line. And you know how these playoff games play out? They're always great.

They're always pretty good. There's always something that happens. There's always something to write about. So you kind of miss that. I mean, you almost feel a little displaced watching teams that aren't the one you cover.

Well, this year, though, there's a potential for some history, which will be a lot of fun. I feel like that's good for it's good for media. It's good for sports fans. And we could potentially have that. I don't think all those other teams mind, though. No, no one's crying for the Patriots. No, no one at all. They won enough. You know what? Somebody else. Okay.

Karen Grigian is still covering the Patriots as they now look for a third head coach in three years. And you can find her online at kgrigian, now with MassLiveSports. And it's always good to have you on the show. Happy New Year. Never a dull moment, even when they don't make the playoffs. Thank you, Karen. Thanks, Amy. Take care. It is a little interesting to think about from a media perspective of...

The contingent that's covered the Patriots for decades, and a lot of them have been in place for a long time. Karen is one of those. I only covered them briefly for a couple of seasons when I was in the Providence market. But for years, they've had to schedule their lives around playoff football. And that's not the case the last couple of seasons.

So we now know that Mike Vrabel is the front runner and he's the obvious choice, but they've also made requests to interview Ben Johnson. And of course we'll have to abide by the Rooney rule this time. They, they didn't with Gerard Mayo because he got the job. And as an African-American coach, there was no need to fulfill the Rooney rule. He, he was their hire, but,

But that's different in 2024. So 25, sorry. So now they've got to go through the process. And I like what she had to say about that.

It could be good for them. It could be good for the Patriots and the Kraft family to, and Elliott Wolfe too, to sit down and talk to other candidates and hear their ideas because it may just change something or may resonate with them, may just change some direction or something that they were firm on and kind of thought, oh, well, maybe not. Maybe we go a different direction.

At ALawRadio, Patriots fans, how are you feeling about it? Also on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Coming up, our candidates for TD of the Week. We'll do that following the update. But I've been promising you that I would answer your questions. I've got three pretty common questions over the past couple of weeks.

How was the drive home from Houston? How's flower? How did she do on the drive home? How is flower getting along with the cat sugar and also about the neighbor's light? So I promise to answer your questions. Maybe not all at once. Hey guys, it's Jim Costa from cash the ticket. If you're betting the NFL playoffs, you need to be listening to cash the ticket. We're breaking down every single game totals and sides all the way to the big game. Subscribe to cash the ticket on the odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

But I will give you those updates starting with at least one of the questions answered straight ahead. But man, I know just from my own Monday, well, Sunday and Monday, because Sunday was a work day with football. I was feeling my wagon was dragging. Yeah.

Everything is sagging. And not because I'm old, but because of the challenge of getting back into the routine, the grind, especially the overnight schedule. And those of you who work late nights or overnights, you certainly understand. So having gotten home on Saturday evening, we were thrilled to get back in the house. There wasn't a whole lot to eat.

What did we end up doing? Oh, my mom had sent us home with some sausages. They're kind of holiday type sausages. They were cranberry mozzarella. I know it sounds weird, but they're really good. So we ended up throwing a package of sausages into the oven on the broiler and then also did some vegetables in the steamer.

and sat down on our butts and watched an hour of TV. So it was really nice. We were finishing up a TV series, and this was the finale. Hadn't seen it, had waited all the way through the holidays, and didn't have a chance to watch any TV over the holidays. So we sat down for an hour and just vegged out in front of the TV, which was nice. But then Sunday morning, I'd missed two Sundays with my third, fourth, and fifth graders at my church, and so I wanted to make sure I got back to them. We had two dogs now, not just one, but two dogs.

that were anxious to get up and out and move around and, and then right back into football. So I still have not completely unpacked the house. It looks a little bit like it's, it's a half Christmas circus and just a half, uh,

bags from a trip and clothes that need to be put away. We managed to load a laundry on Monday and some dishes. But yeah, a lot of the Christmas stuff has been collected on the kitchen table. So gifts or cards that I need to respond to. Just the Christmas collection is all over the kitchen table. And then elsewhere in the house, we've got piles here and piles there. Stuff that needs to be put away.

Thankfully, though, after 3,500 miles round trip, Princess Leia is doing great. She needed a couple of repairs while we were in Texas, like a new battery. And I was thinking about it because I started up the car a few hours before work to get ready to drive in tonight. And the temperature gauge on Princess Leia was 20 degrees. So in my neighborhood, it was 20. That's without wind chills. It was in the single digits with the wind chills and temperature.

She had an old battery that died while we were in Texas. Thankfully, it died at my mom's house. It was easy to repair. Once we jumped it, no big deal. We replaced it. But

But the battery was about four years old. And could you imagine if I had gone out to start my car before tonight's show and the battery was dead? So we're really thankful that all the issues kind of popped up. We had a low tire, low tire pressure popped up while we were in a place or in a space where we could fix it. So the drive was good. It just got to be really long.

We left Houston on Thursday afternoon, the 2nd. We drove to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, mostly back roads, actually. We did country roads to Hattiesburg. So we wanted to avoid Baton Rouge and avoid I-10. Instead, we went through northeast Texas and into Louisiana and then on into Mississippi. So we stayed in Hattiesburg at an Airbnb. And then we drove from Hattiesburg to Bristol, Virginia. So we went Hattiesburg, Michigan,

into Alabama, through Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and then north through Tennessee, went through Knoxville. So we had gone...

East-west through Knoxville on our way to Texas. On our way back, we went south to north through Knoxville and then ended up in Bristol, Virginia in a place where there was snow. There was snow on the ground. So I'm pretty sure it was our new dog's first taste of snow because in Texas, she'd not had any snow. She's a Texas dog. So many of you have asked about her.

Her name is Flower. We're keeping that name, and it's Flower like a daisy, Flower like a carnation, Flower like a rose, not Flower that you bake with. Some people have asked me about her online and have spelled her name F-L-O-U-R. Ha!

The funny part is my cat is sugar and now we have a dog named flower, but the other dog is Daisy. And now we have the dog named flower. So I guess you could think either way. Marco Belletti and I have not seen each other for about three weeks. So he's here in studio now. And I told you before the show that we had adopted a new dog and brought her home from Texas. So a lot of people have heard that story, but what we figured out, and this is kind of funny because people,

looked at her photo and thought, well, maybe she's German Shepherd. Actually, this resonates. Now, we're pretty sure she's half Belgian Malinau. So Malinaus are a little bit leaner. They have short, wiry hair. The ears are exactly like a Malinau. And she just has that same kind of frame and very athletic. She's a counter surfer. So we're trying to break her of that habit.

And she can leap over anything. So gates don't really work for Flower. You have to have gates and chairs there so she can't leap over. So half Aussie, half Malinois is what we think now. That I'm not familiar with Malinois. I'd have to see. Well, a lot of police dogs. So those of you who are in law enforcement or even federal agencies, a lot of police dogs are Malinaws because they're like...

Unbelievable energy. Great drive. Thankfully, she does not have a prey drive, so she has not chased Sugar, though she's very eager to see Sugar and talk to Sugar. Sugar has already hissed at her a few times. We haven't had any bopping on the nose yet, but Flower will probably run because she's been a little timid. She had kind of a rough past year, but she's doing well. She and Daisy, this is really cute.

Flower does not like loud noises. So I think because of her time in the shelter where it's just so loud all the time, she could never really get out of her cage. She does not like loud noises. I told this story. Pete, were you, was I working with you when I told the story about the trash cans?

Yes. Okay. So just to quickly recap for Marco, she, I was out with a walk with her on a walk at toward the end of our trip to Houston and she wrapped herself around two empty trash cans, big ones, you know, the outdoor kind that were on the side of the road and pulled them over that made a huge loud noise, scared herself half to death, pulled herself out of her collar and took off. And so I was, I was really freaked out. I had to get her back. So now she's afraid of trash cans. Uh, and, and,

Like seriously, and afraid of large mailboxes because they look like trash cans. And so anyway, she's really timid and nervous when it comes to loud noises. And you know how on the highway, trucks are driving by you or just in general, the road noise can be really loud. So she got kind of nervous a few times when we were on the road. And so what she did to combat her nerves, she went and she sat down.

Now she is too big to fit with Daisy in Daisy's like Daisy is a seat that my husband got her for road trips. So she, she kind of has her own little bed that connects to the back. You know, you like put the strap over the back of the headrest. And so it's just, I don't think I've ever seen a bed for a dog in a car. No, I can't, I gotta be fair. I can't place it. It's like a kid seat without the hardware essentially. So it's a kid seat, but it's just, it's, it's fabric. It lays against the seat.

So we would look back and Flower would have smushed herself as far as she could into the seat with Daisy so that their butts were touching. And poor Daisy, she would be smushed. I mean, she could move if she wanted to. I guess she didn't want to that bad. But Flower just needed some...

contact with another animal. So she was kind of smushed in there with Daisy. So they did really well on the ride home. I think they both got a little bit stir crazy toward the end because they were kind of up and down and all around. At one point, I looked back and flowers upside down in the back seat with all fours in the air and wanting someone to scratch her belly. So they took turns. Every time we stopped, they took turns in the front seat, in the back seat. We did make the mistake. We stopped one time.

to eat a meal at, for those of you who know Jason's Deli. I love Jason's Deli. They have a Southwest bowl that's delicious. So we were tired of being in the car. We thought, we'll just stop. It's late on, I think it was Friday night. I think it was late on Friday night. It was our date night. And so we're about an hour and a half from our destination in Bristol, Virginia. We're just going to stop at a Jason's Deli and quick have a meal. Nobody in there. Didn't have to wait, but we probably took 15 minutes to eat. We get back to the car and

The dog, Flower, has gotten into the trash bag that we were using with our trash. She has ripped out a plastic wrapper for crackers. And she's taken apart a coffee cup. So it's like pieces of a Starbucks coffee cup all over the car. So yeah, you cannot leave her alone for too long because she'll find something to amuse herself. At least it wasn't the car that she was eating because that's a plus. Yeah, thankfully. So we get home.

home and because of her propensity to take off and just get nervous, we've had her in the fenced-in backyard. We had a couple of walks in the neighborhood. She doesn't appear to be affected by cold, even though she doesn't have a long coat. But since she's half Aussie, she might have an undercoat. So she's doing really well. She's so happy.

I think after the months of being in a cage at this shelter, every time you pick up the leash or pick up the collar, the dog goes nuts. She wags her entire back in. Her tail's like a weapon. You can hear it whack, whack, whack, whack, whack. Sometimes it whacks Daisy. Daisy's learned how to duck. She bobs and weaves like a boxer around the tail. It's good that they get along because that's a big...

That's a big different, you know. It is. Change for both of them, I would imagine. Yeah. I mean, I think Daisy, they're both jealous, right? So you pet one and the other one comes running. You try to pet one and the other one like steps in front. Although you never know, though, because sometimes dogs with another dog are great and sometimes they're just not. They're just better when they're by themselves. So you never know until you put them together. Right. Thankfully, they had tested Flower with other dogs at the shelter just to be sure. But you're right. It could be a dog where they don't really get along. But they're pretty calm. I mean, it's people. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. Sometimes you like somebody, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you don't. They're pretty calm. I wouldn't say they're BFFs, but maybe they'll get to be better friends as we move along. And then with Sugar, so the cat is bold. She's been downstairs a few times. She does not care. This is her house, not the dog's.

And the dog, I think is curious. They've touched noses. Sugar's walked under her nose with like her tail. Cause that's a cat thing. You're right. And so the cat's kind of letting her know who's in charge. She's been sleeping on the dog bed. So I, I think that's kind of funny too, that sugar that's where she was probably sleeping the whole time we were gone. She's getting to the point. She's almost 17. She can't jump on the beds anymore. And so now she's sleeping on the dog bed. So it is really funny that if, if,

One of them's going to sleep on the dog bed. It's going to be the cat first. It's actually Penny's old bed. So I don't care who sleeps on it as long as one of them does. But yeah, the cat-dog interaction's going okay. Sugar's a little bit leery still, but it's not been a bad thing. At least Flower didn't try to eat her.

That's a plus. Yeah, that's a plus. Two of you, dramatic pregnant pause there. I like it. So that should answer your questions about Flower. She did great. I did take a couple of funny photos of her while we were in the car that maybe I'll share. Because at one point I looked back and she's sitting up on her bottom like a child. Her front feet

Feet are kind of hanging. Well, everything else is all hanging out. She's very ladylike. She's sitting up on her bottom like she's a kid, just kind of looking out the window. And then also the one where she's flipped upside down with her fours in the air, just like bored. Like a little kid would be like, how much longer?

Yeah. All right. So straight ahead, we've got your candidates for TD of the week. And I also promised you an update on the neighbor's light. Trust me when I say we were anxious to get home on Saturday evening and find out what had changed. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on Facebook, on Twix, at Amy After Hours. You'll get our poll there, including our wildcard weekend poll as we get closer to kickoff. Here's our latest sports update. And here's Marco.

Infinity Sports Network.

Sports Flash. The Cowboys still contemplating the future of Mike McCarthy, but Jerry Jones may have some competition in his services. Bears reportedly seeking permission to speak with McCarthy about their vacant head coaching spot. Dallas still has McCarthy under contract until Wednesday and exclusive rights for a contract through January 14th. Elsewhere, the Jaguars fired Doug Peterson after three seasons, just one playoff appearance. They did keep Trent bulky, though the GM is owner Shad Khan. Explain why. You know, the coaching...

That is an area that, you know, we need to fix now. But certainly over the last few years, I mean, we've built a football administration and, you know, a lot of things are working well there. Giants keep in both GM Joe Shannon and coach Brian Dable. However, owner John Mara didn't exactly give a huge vote of confidence to whether both are on the hot seat for next year. You guys are going to have number one on the hot seat going forward. So no matter how I answer that question, you're mine.

We're going to have to see. I'm going to have to be in a better mood this time next year than I am right now. The house where Packers suffered a blow. Whiteout Christian Watson suffered a torn ACL that ends his season. Chargers reportedly set to add Ezekiel Elliott to their practice squad. Deshaun Watson suffered a setback during his rehab for his Achilles injury. Now Cleveland, of course, owns the number two overall pick. So does GM Andrew Barry feel like Watson's going to be healthy for next year? It's too early to tell. I don't have all the information. Obviously, in a situation like that, you know, I don't want to

One thing I have learned from this year, I don't want to rule out anything with a major injury. We are still collecting all the information. Obviously, our focus is making sure that he can get as healthy as possible. NBA Kings, that last heat, 123-118, a double overtime. DeMontis Sabonis, 21, is part of a triple-double. Suns race, the Sixers, 109-99. Magic handle the Knicks, 103-94. Bucs punish the Raptors, 128-104. Pacers overwhelm the Nets, 113-99.

T-Wolves, edge to Clippers, 108-106. Anthony Edwards, 37. Zach Levine, 35-10. Rebounds, 8 assists. Bowles got by the Spurs, 114-110. Grizzlies too much for the Mavericks, 119-104. The Pistons dump the Blazers, 118-115. In college football, North Dakota State up at a Montana State 35-32. They win the FCS Championship. I'm Marco Belletti. Hey, like us on Facebook. Our handle is INF Sportsnet. That's INF Sportsnet for our Facebook page. This is the Infinity Sports Network.

It's a touchdown Tuesday on After Hours. To cast your vote for the TD of the week, give us a call at 855-212-4227.

The Chicago Bears. Takes the snap, sends it up the elevator. She is going to sail to the far side of the field where it's picked up by the Bears. A little trickeration here, 25-30. A lot of blocking at the 40 to the 50 with the football at the 40, and nobody's going to get him into the end zone with an escort from Jack Sanborn. Is a touchdown. Touchdown, Blackwell. Touchdown, Bears. The Houston Texans. Mills under center with Pierce in the backfield. Davis.

Feeds Pierce through a hole. Oh, wow. He's gone. 40, 50, the 40 of Tennessee, the 30. Will he be caught? The 10, 5, rock and roll. Damian Pierce coast to coast. The Carolina Panthers. Here's Young. He'll hand to Sanders. And touchdown, Carolina. The Panthers win the game. And they finish the season with their fifth win.

And the Falcons will go to the offseason, 8-9. Young is under center. Here's the snap. Sanders up the middle, charging through the end zone. Touchdown, Carolina. The Panthers walk it off to end the season. Washington Commanders. First and goal at the 5. Eckler to the left of Mariota, trying to retake the lead. Play action he keeps. Gets away from Marshawn Nealon. Died.

Touchdown, Washington! He broke the tackle of Neyland in the backfield. Mariotta goes in for six. Here's the snap. He's looking left. One-on-one. Throws it. Oh, that's what it is! He's done it again! Do you believe in miracles? Yes, I do! Terry McCoy, Marcus Mariotta, perfect ball, ball game, Washington! That's a lot of yelling. There's just a lot of yelling. People yell over football.

Actually, the Cowboys-Commanders game is currently re-airing on NFL Network right in front of us. But that late touchdown to Terry McLaurin from Marcus Mariota on the Commanders Radio Network. One of your candidates for TD of the Week. Week 18 in the NFL. Are you curious?

Are you kidding? It's behind us. It's all in the rearview mirror. This portion of the show is brought to you by Ethos Life, the easy way to get life insurance in 10 minutes. Up to $2 million in coverage with no medical exam, just a few health questions. Get your free quote at checkethos.com. Not available in all states. Along with the Commanders game-winning TD against Dallas. How about the Panthers? Now, we gave you the Falcons.

version first because the Falcons were on the wrong end and on the outside of the playoffs looking in, but the commanders radio, I'm sorry, the Panthers radio network, that's a nice Shroff. And what a big moment for them. They don't end up as the worst team in the NFL. They end up on a high note. And just the way that we saw Dave Canales and Bryce Young celebrate that moment, I thought was really cool. Yeah. The, the,

Benching of Bryce Young earlier in the season seemed to have an impact. It gave him a chance to regroup, to watch a little bit with Andy. And now that he's taken over again, we've seen a lot of steps forward. And certainly Dave Canales deserves a lot of credit for that. So the Panthers finished with the same record as the Saints, both 5-12. Mark Vandermeer on Texans Radio. Have you noticed that a lot of people are pointing to the Chargers over the Texans?

as a potential, bless you, as a potential upset in the wildcard round of the playoffs. Though the Texans locked up that AFC South title with a couple weeks to go. They were the only team in the South that was above .500. But Tameka Ryan's crew has not played well over the last couple weeks.

of weeks, maybe the last month or so. Offensively, they've seemed to scuffle. So what they got against the Titans on Sunday to have what was a long touchdown run for Damian Pierce, 92 yards. That was pretty impressive, though then they ended up missing the point after attempt. And finally, Jeff Jodiak, Bears radio. First touchdown against the Packers in Green Bay on Sunday was a 94-yard punt return, even though

It was DJ Moore who lined up to receive the kick. Instead, it's Josh Blackwell who ends up returning that puppy. I don't know if you could call it trickeration, but certainly the Packers were not expecting it. And Blackwell, his first career touchdown, he goes all the way up the sidelines and really is untouched. It was kind of fun to hear our friend Kevin Kugler

call that game on TV for Fox, but we got the call from Jeff Joniak on Bears Radio, and they also finish on a high note. So those are your candidates for TD of the week. You can find that poll on our show twix.

at AmyAfterHours. So that's where all of our polls originate. That's where the podcast link is posted every weekday morning. So it's easy to find. You've got to make sure you follow it. We're seeing extra traffic as the playoffs are here. It's a good resource, at AmyAfterHours. Vote for TD of the Week. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence.