1-2-25 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 3
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Toyota, let's go places. Thank you so much for hanging out with us halfway through our first show of 2025 and a different type of a show. I've seen some of your messages online and I do appreciate that you all are as engaged and

Also feeling the heaviness after the terror attack in New Orleans. The FBI is describing it as the attack, the coordinated attack of not just one, but multiple people who wish to do extensive damage and extensive harm. And they are qualifying it now as a terror attack.

And there aren't a lot of details that have come in in the last couple hours. But as I was starting the show, was seeing a few more details, like, for instance, a raid on the home of the 42-year-old suspect, who is a U.S. citizen and an Army veteran from the Houston area. And they had been inside his home and they were acting with a warrant on

Also searching the Airbnbs of him and believe there are three men and another woman that right now are people of interest. They found bomb making materials. They found other devices, etc.

raw materials that could be used to cause even greater harm. So this wasn't just the act of one person, though on his truck as he drove it at breakneck speed, turning a corner onto Bourbon Street, there were

I mean, it's crazy the videos that are out there of how fast he was going and as he made that turn around a barrier. But there was an ISIS flag that was on his truck. He got out of his vehicle and then proceeded to engage in gunfire with police who shot him dead.

But 15 people are now victims. And there are many more that are injured, hoping the death toll does not go up. But part of what I like to do in the wake of these tragedies, and gosh, there are all too many that I've had to talk about or cover on national radio over the past 20 years. What I like to do is identify the victims because I feel like that is...

better use of our airwaves, a better use of our time. Of course, we want to pass along the details that we can find. And I always say to my students at Syracuse and other young people that I mentor in this business, make sure you know how to deliver stories and headlines and updates with journalistic integrity. And in this particular case that comes into play so much, my early background in news was

9-11 was an event I covered as a news reporter, and I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to do that because it was all I wanted to do was try to inform people. And when you think about not just the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans that will take place on Thursday, but also the Super Bowl, not even six weeks out, this is a critical situation. It's critical for New Orleans, of course, to make sure that their security protocols and safety measures are upgraded and enhanced.

that they are every single day top of mind before the mass influx of people that arrive on the scene for Super Bowl week. It's not just the game itself. It's not just that weekend. It's also about the hundreds of thousands of people that descend on the side of the Super Bowl vendors and corporate partners and media members, not to mention athletes and agents and PR and

the various companies that are there who have not just people that are out front, maybe in front of a camera or microphone, but also behind the scenes, producers and program directors,

And then all of the people that come in to try to sell their wares because you've got such a huge audience and such an engaged audience that's so ingrained with the NFL. I mean, I think about the people that I've interviewed on Radio Row over the course of the last decade. Astronauts, Olympians, astronauts.

Thunderbird pilots. I mean, this is the type of crowd that is drawn to a Super Bowl week, a Super Bowl site. It's not just athletes. It's not just fans.

Vegas was brand new last year, and it was a lot of people that were coming in just to enjoy the scene, right? What a cool thing to experience the Super Bowl actually being in Las Vegas, which is the home of sports gambling in the United States. So you have so many people that are on hand for an event like the Sugar Bowl or like the Super Bowl that have nothing to do with the actual game, right? They're just part of what is a money-making machine in both college football and

and the NFL. And then on New Year's Eve,

you've got thousands of people that descend on major cities so that they can celebrate. And what we're finding out is that there were people who were there at the last second, a 37 year old father of two. And what I've read is that, that Reggie Hunter had an 11 year old son and a one year old son. And at the last second he gets off work, he was a store manager and his cousin asked him to go hang out on Bourbon street to ring in the new year. And he does it.

But he's there when this driver plows his vehicle into a large crowd and he never went home. His sons never saw him again. I mean, that just breaks your heart. It's senseless and it's horrific. And most of us can't even possibly relate to the type of hatred, the type of philosophy, or some cases it's a religion that would...

be the, the reason why people would engage in senseless killing. Um,

But this is another example of that. And so what we're finding out is that there, I've been able to count eight, I believe, seven or eight. I'm kind of going back and forth among different websites because different websites, either locally in New Orleans or nationally, like Fox News and MSNBC, they're identifying different people based on social media accounts.

I saw a TikTok video of a man. He was talking about his friend who was there and, and he had all the details, right? And said his friend was named Jeremy, but I haven't seen the name of a victim identified officially now as a Jeremy. So there's someone else.

But what we do know is that there are different family and friend groups who are acknowledging that, yes, their loved one was a part of this attack. And also school communities who are identifying victims, too. So I'll give you the names and the ages that I know, some of whom I started the show with, others of whom are new. There was an Akira Dodo, 18 years old. She was a Mississippi native and she had...

big dreams of becoming a nurse. And so she was with some friends there in New Orleans and she was just shy of going to nursing school and had already started working at a hospital.

I mentioned Reggie Hunter, 37 years old, a father of two from Baton Rouge, and his was the last minute decision to go to Bourbon Street after he finished up his shift at work. He and his cousin were both hit by the speeding vehicle. His cousin survived, according to the reports, but Reggie Hunter passed away. Maybe you've heard the name Tiger Beck.

He's the older brother of a former LSU football player. He himself was an all-Ivy punt returner at Princeton going back a few years, and he was among the victims of the attack. So that has been confirmed on social media. A mother, a single mother of a four-year-old son, she had just been promoted to manager at her deli, and she was in her late 20s. I've seen 28, but she passed away. Her name was Nicole Perez-Montes.

Another recent high school graduate from Archbishop Shaw High School. His name was Hubert Guthrow and he was 21 years old and a spokesman for the school confirmed that he graduated in 21 and they called him both bright and promising as a young man. So those are a few that I've seen from MSN.

Another website that's local to New Orleans has some different names. This is Matthew Tenadorio, 25 years old. And his mom, who was in Mississippi, said the last time she saw her son was around nine o'clock on Tuesday, New Year's Eve. He told her that he wanted to go to the French Quarter with his friends. And she said, and this just breaks my heart. She said the next time she saw him was at the morgue.

She said she gave him a hug and a kiss the night before. Her son actually worked at the Superdome and he was an audio visual technician. And according to his mom, Kathy, this was Matthew's dream job. Just breaks your heart when you put names and faces to the victims, right? It's not just 15 people that...

You'll never know. Never hear about. No, these are people who had families. These are people who were loved by so many. There was one more name out there that didn't have a lot of details associated with it, but I wanted to pass along if I can find his name. Hold on. I've got a bunch of different websites that are open. Kareem Badawi.

No age listed, just that he was a recent graduate of Episcopal High School, which I believe is in the New Orleans area. And his friends and his classmates were calling him kind and ambitious, though there are not a lot of details available about him beyond that. So those are the names that I found. The ages from 18 years old to 21 years old to a couple in their mid to late 20s. And then a 37 year old father of two.

It really is. I think for me, it's important to know that these are people who have loved ones who had jobs, who had dreams, who had goals, who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just it makes me so sad. I know it does the same for you all. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. Something else that I saw, and this is pretty incredible. There are, of course,

and store cams and street cameras everywhere now. There are a lot of videos that are surfacing online of the moment that the truck hit

with, you know, with this driver who is hell bent on killing people, the moment that he drove around the barrier and the truck sped around the barrier. Something else that I that I saw, though, too, is a video of a street cam that was there on a corner, Bourbon Street. Now, this was away from the attack. But what is significant about this video is you can see there's a group of police officers on a corner there, of course, trying to keep the peace and

and make sure that they're available if there is trouble, but never knowing or never thinking about a night like this.

You can tell a couple of them get a radio message or hear a message on their radios. A couple of guys were pressing buttons on the radios that were on their belts. And all of a sudden, it appeared to be 12 to 15 police officers take off through the crowd as fast as they could go on foot. They're running. They're sprinting through the crowd. So I see if I can find it and maybe share it. It was a video that I saw on Twix.

Maybe I can share it with you, but pretty incredible the response because you've got the opposite as the truck comes barreling down the street. There are, of course, pedestrians and New Year's Eve revelers who bolt out of the way. Some of them go flying. They actually jump and leap out of the way of this truck that is going so fast.

But then you've got police officers and law enforcement who do the opposite. They run to danger and maybe potentially preventing the suspect from killing people with the weapons that he had in his hands because he got out of his truck and he engaged in gunfire with police officers and he was shot dead then.

So thank you to law enforcement in New Orleans who raced into this situation, not knowing what they would find, but most certainly prevented him from using a personal weapon or a handgun to hurt other people. 15 at this point, 15 victims and their identities are slowly coming out. And I want to make sure I share as many as possible before we get off the air.

You can find me online at a law radio also on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence. The game of course has been postponed and we know that it'll take place on Thursday afternoon. And so as hard as it is to think about football, it's,

And as much as it feels wrong to me, and I will admit this, I don't have any special formula, no easy way to segue back into football. Of course, I do know that football can be an opportunity for people to start the healing process too.

Obviously, with the Sugar Bowl, you've got people coming in from all over the place, right? From Athens, Georgia, to follow the Bulldogs, other places around the country to follow the dogs, and Notre Dame. They're a national power that people root for all over the country. So it's not all local news.

New Orleans natives or Louisiana, Mississippi, people that'll be there in town. But with the confluence of New Year's Eve and the game, I do hope that the Sugar Bowl, the people that are there and the people that are working the Sugar Bowl and the Superdome, that they will do so to honor these victims and to recognize that we can come together in a powerful way and make a difference. And sometimes sports is the catalyst for that very thing. Brick.

Brandon is listening in Philadelphia. Brandon, welcome to After Hours. Hey, Amy, how are you? I'm good. Thank you, sir. Really beautiful show. I felt compelled to call in. I've followed your shows over the years and, you know, really tough. I have some friends in New Orleans and...

It's amazing when we watch sports all the time and we find solace and escape in sports. But I really appreciate the fact that you're talking about this in depth. It's really important. It's crazy. It's a really crazy story. It is. It is.

And at the same time, there are implications, right? It's not just about college football. It's about New Orleans being the host site for the Super Bowl in six weeks. And Pete and I have talked about this a little bit off the air. Does this mean that people will stay away knowing that New Orleans was a target and that this wasn't just a one-off with one dude who decided he was going to wreak as much havoc as possible in the name of a terrorist organization? There were

other people that they believe were involved, a coordinated attack that had meticulous planning as the FBI is finding out, do people then become a little nervous and not want to be in a situation like that? So, yeah, there are far-reaching impacts, as there should be. I mean, we should take these things seriously because anybody who goes to a sporting event, you've got to recognize big crowds worldwide.

They will be targets for people who are trying to wreak as much havoc and to hurt as many people as possible. Yeah. And, you know, I think that there's, you know, it's such a bummer. It should be the first day of the new year. You should enter the new year with on a high note, you know, and yeah.

on a positive note and it's this sucks you know it's terrible but I I just wanted to say that I appreciate um not glossing over it you know mm-hmm

Well, as I admit it, it can be awkward because I know this is a sports show and I want to be entertaining. But also this is one of those times where sports and the real world, if you will, intersect. And I think it matters to all of us too. And Brandon, you're kind of proof of that. Is it even though you're not in New Orleans, I'm not in New Orleans anymore.

These are real people. And we know any one of us could have been in a situation like that. How many people were out on New Year's Eve? Darren Rizzi, the St. Sidram head coach, said his son was out in the French Quarter, was out celebrating New Year's Eve. Can you imagine his emotion when he found out the details? So many of us can identify with a situation like this. And yeah, I just think it's much bigger than sports. So thank you, Brandon, for understanding.

Thank you, Amy. I appreciate it. Great show. Thank you. 855-212-4227. Yeah, we still have about an hour and 45 minutes to go. My last show here until I start the drive home. But we've done four shows with three different producers now. We're so glad producer Pete is back. Fourth show from the After Hours Super Secret Home Base, which is mom's spare bedroom set up like a pillow fort right now with a new dog.

at my feet. She is out. I don't know what that means about me in the radio show, Pete. Do you think that means that the dog, my voice put her to sleep or the dog is completely uninterested in what I have to say? I might be tired. I might be tired from running away.

Oh my gosh, yes. I'll tell you that story coming up because it was scary for me. I'm thinking, are you kidding? No, I didn't just adopt this dog for her to disappear three days later. And yet it was kind of a wake up call for us to recognizing after being in a shelter for three months, what she went through, the noise she's

Really afraid of loud noises And so we have to be really careful Honestly though Pete and this is the tease I did not expect that she would be afraid of trash cans Who make loud noises Just yeah just wait

Thanks so much for hanging out with us. We're glad to have you. Our first show of 2025, not our last. There's a lot that we will talk about in these next six weeks between now and the Super Bowl. Of course, the college football national championship. Still want to talk about that incredible near choke job by Texas, but then the rally in overtime against Arizona State, an emotional finish there at the Peach Bowl.

So thanks for hanging out at ALawRadio and also on our Facebook page. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

And Jade Lamar is going to be pushed down around the Oregon 43-yard line. And that should do it. With 12 seconds and counting, and the two teams will come to shake hands in the middle of the field. And Ohio State knocks off undefeated and number one-ranked Oregon to advance to the college football playoff semifinals. The final score, 41-21. Ohio State defeats Oregon. This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence.

At one point, this was 37 to nothing, maybe. I lost track after a while. It was pretty lopsided between Ohio State and Oregon in what was the second game that they played this year. First time, though, was in Eugene. It was a one-point affair when Oregon stayed undefeated.

squeaking past the Buckeyes. That took place in Eugene on Oregon's home field. And so it was a 34-0 in the second quarter, and Oregon getting a taste of an Ohio State team that is built for this, built for the big stages and the playoffs and the bright lights in the big city, if you will. And so as much as it's frustrating for Ducks fans and you think about what if,

It's clear that Ohio State had time to get ready for this and the time to just regroup after the Michigan loss and that embarrassment and all the talk about Ryan Day's future and Ohio State being overrated, quote unquote. Well, they answered all of the questions and then some. And Dan Lanning certainly understands that this was a tough one for the Ducks. We've got to be able to adjust a little bit faster, right? There were some things that we were able to get going at points and

throughout the game. We didn't adjust fast enough. It's tough when you play a team that doesn't have a lot of weaknesses. They've got strengths. Their wideouts were creating a lot of success down the field. Their ability to run the ball makes them a dangerous team.

So Dan Lanning of Oregon sees his Ducks fall by 20 points, but they were the number one team for most of the year. They remained undefeated until they got into this college football playoff. Just the...

the preparation after one year in the Big Ten and understanding how you have to compete in what is a bloated conference and where you go from here. Certainly, it helps with recruiting and transfer portal when you have a number one seed

seed and a record.

Subscribe to Cash the Ticket on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

855-212-4227. Tennessee was the first victim for Ohio State, 42-17. So that was the No. 9 Vols in the first round of the playoffs and now in the quarterfinals, 41-21 over Oregon. And so up next for Ohio State is Texas, and that comes up a week from Friday. So here's how it plays out. You've got college football playoff games on Thursday and Friday of next week.

And then NFL, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, too. Remember, the wildcard weekend is...

It's supersized. It's bloated, to be sure, like the Big Ten and the SEC. And it requires, oh my gosh, it requires all the energy I've got. And now you throw in the two playoff games that will be taking place, the semifinals on Thursday and Friday, to set up the College Football National Championship. And it's five, for those of you who are football junkies, it is five consecutive nights and days of nothing but football. You can immerse yourself in postseason football tonight.

At a law radio is where you can find me online. Also on our Facebook page too. And thanks again for all of your holiday messages, especially your new year's messages and your messages about flower. I'll maybe share another photo. She's half under the bed. She's curled up next to me on a throw rug. I started to be careful when I moved my chair because I don't want to put my chair down on one of her paws or her tail. Although she is a deadly tail. So it's really me who has to watch out for her tail.

But I shared a bunch of photos. I just sent Pete one of her curled up next to me. So apparently she can sleep to the sound of my voice. I'm not sure if it's good or bad, but it is goofy, right? Because she's only been in the family now for four days. We just got her on Friday, four or five days. Day three, I found out she does not like fireworks at all. Day three was also the day that I realized she would bolt if she could get out of her collar and

underscoring the point that she is afraid of loud noises. So listen to this. I took her on a walk on New Year's Eve. I guess it was, oh my gosh, it was like mid-afternoon, really nice evening, or really nice afternoon, I should say, developing into a really nice evening in the Houston area. No humidity after a few days of storms and just kind of thick air.

air, which I hate. But it was a really pretty afternoon. I put, I don't, we don't, Daisy was with my husband. He was gone for a couple of days. So I put her on her leash. We had a collar that I use for Penny. Penny is, was a bigger dog. Flower is maybe 35 to 40 pounds and she's got short wiry hair. So we think maybe some German shepherd in there along with Aussie, but the collar was a little bit too big for her. Now we had tightened it and

And I walked her a few times and didn't have any issues. But it was trash day on Wednesday morning or Tuesday morning, excuse me. And so a lot of the trash cans were emptied and were standing next to mailboxes along the road where we walked.

So flowers investigating, sniffing as she does. And it's clear she hasn't spent a lot of time on a leash or at least not recently because she will wind herself around me, around mailboxes, around signposts around. And I'm trying to make her come back the way that she wound herself in so that she recognizes that she can get herself out of these situations as opposed to pull

pulling and getting afraid of the signpost or whatever. So she's next to a mailbox. There are two trash cans there. I wasn't really thinking about it. She goes around the back of the two trash cans. And as I wasn't pulling on her, but I'm calling her, hey, flower, flower this way. She comes to me. But in doing so, the leash takes out both trash cans. They are

empty. They are loud. They come crashing down. The dog freaks out. I mean, pulls out of her collar. And again, she's kind of away from me. I can't get any leverage. And so she pulls out of her collar and she takes off down the street at breakneck speed. The dog is, her tail is between her legs because she's so freaked out and she just starts running.

Oh my gosh. There's a man and his daughter. They have a couple of dogs that are out. I think they're behind an invisible fence, but they freak out because the dog's running away from them. They're yelling, do you need help? Do you need help? Sweet girl. She's a teenager on her bike. She comes after me as I start running down the road calling for flower. I can barely see her though. She's running so fast. She goes around a curve, you know, past the stop sign that takes you to our house. And I'm thinking, okay, at least...

Maybe she knows where our house is. And so she's going back the direction. Anyway, so the teenage girl comes out on her bike and is like, can I help you? Can I help you? And I said, sure, if you want to go see if you can see her. So she pedals up the road. Really sweet. She was really nervous for us too. Anyway, I'm kind of half walking, half running. I don't want to scare her if she can see me. So I don't want to run directly at her.

And so I get all the way back to the house and the young girl on the bike is saying, I think I saw a black and brown dog back there in the woods. I'm like, oh my gosh, okay. So I'm calling her and I'm calling her. I don't see her. I don't hear her. I get inside the house. I get my mom's husband to help me. Hey, can you come help me? Flower's gone. I don't know where she is. So we get out. We go back out to the end of the driveway to walk up the street and go either way and keep calling her. And so my mom's neighborhood is...

It's all woods. In fact, there's deer everywhere because it's a deer sanctuary. You're not allowed to kill the deer in this neighborhood. It's a gated community. And so he starts to go one way. I start to go the other way and I'm still calling her. All of a sudden she's racing from behind us. She comes out of the woods and comes directly to us and...

Sweet dog probably thought she was in trouble. She flips over on her back and puts her all fours up in the air so I can scratch her belly. Poor thing. Her tail was still tucked beneath her legs. So she found some solace and some safety in the woods, but then decided that when she heard us, it was safe to come out. So...

Mike tightens the collar. I put her back on the collar. She's panting heavily. I just wanted her to breathe just to, before we take her in the house, just to kind of get a leather, a little bit of a walk in. That was dumb. We get up to the next house. So we start walking the other direction. I'm not going to take her back where the trash cans nearly killed her. So she thinks, and we start walking again.

the other direction wouldn't you know there's another trash can at the mailbox the very next house my mom's neighbors she wraps herself around that one same thing pulls it over freaks out pulls out of the collar again and takes off oh my gosh pete in the span it wasn't even 30 seconds from the time we put her back on the leash that she did it again and so now she's deathly afraid of trash cans

That's something. I never thought I'd hear a dog be afraid of trash cans. Well, I think it was more the noise of the trash cans, really. Okay. But actually kind of funny, when we were walking our dogs on Wednesday afternoon, do you know that we come up to a couple of mailboxes where there are trash cans, and she gets nervous, and she goes around the other side of me. So she'd been walking along the side of the road, sniffing everything. And the mailboxes are kind of in brick shape.

columns. Um, you know, they're, they're, uh, solid. They're not like just on poles. And so she can spot them. And a couple of them still had trash cans. And so, yeah, she veered away from the trash cans even on Wednesday. So yeah, the second time she takes off back into the woods, she goes, we're, Mike goes traipsing out in the woods, back into the property behind us. She had gotten through a fence. He could see her, but couldn't get her to come. So he kind of, um,

Gets out behind her as much as he can. Shepherds her by calling her and kind of walking after her. That made her nervous. She kind of circled back in the woods. So he tells me to go back out to the street. So I'm out to the street. I'm calling flower, flower. The neighbors probably thought I was a wacko. And I hear rustling in the woods between our house and the next one.

And then I finally see her ears and I see her back there running around. And yeah, she, she hears me call her. She stopped. She looks at me. She didn't come right away. But then after a few more, uh,

few more times me calling her name and a few seconds later she decides it's okay and she comes back. So in both cases, she came back after hearing us call her, but not before my heart was like in my throat thinking, are you kidding? The dog, I mean, we're not near any major roads out here, but still, I mean, there's country roads and you've got people who drive up and down them, especially in the middle of the afternoon. So

Oh my gosh. I was really nervous. So grateful that she's okay and that she's back. And now had to be really careful. We tightened the collar even more. And do not let her anywhere out without a leash, knowing that she's secure. Because at this point, she's still a flight risk. Or get your running shoes ready. Right. Flap.

which I actually did go running on Wednesday. So yeah, I had to warm up, get those running shoes broken in again. Flower is a flight risk and she doesn't like fireworks. Learning all these things about our new dog adopted from the San Marcos animal shelter as our Christmas present at a law radio. You're all so kind. You've sent lots of sweet messages about flower. And then also on our Facebook page after hours with Amy Lawrence, here's our latest sports update. And here's Peter Schwartz.

Infinity Sports Network Sports Flash. This report is sponsored by GoodRx. For simple, smart savings on your prescriptions, go to GoodRx.com or download the free GoodRx app.

In the aftermath of the deadly truck attack in New Orleans, the Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia was postponed. Super Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley on that decision. All parties and all agree that it's in the best interest of everybody and public safety that we postpone the game. Work is fast about to set up a safe and efficient and fun environment for tomorrow night. The kickoff on Thursday.

at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Former Princeton football player Tiger Beck was among those killed in the New Orleans tragedy. The college football playoffs quarterfinals...

Rose Bowl, Ohio State over Oregon 41-21. Will Howard threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns. In the Peach Bowl, Texas and Arizona State went to double overtime. Play action. Ewers looking to throw. Steps up. Fires downfield for him. He caught it. Touchdown, Texas. Back.

Back-to-back plays, and this time, Gunner Helm catches the touchdown pass from Quinn Ewers, and the Longhorns are back in front. Texas would tack on the two-point conversion. The call on the Longhorns radio network, Texas over Arizona State in double overtime, 39-31. It'll be Texas and Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl National Semifinal on January the 10th.

From the NFL, Eagles running back Saquon Barkley will sit out Sunday's regular season finale against the Giants, so he will not break the NFL single-season rushing record. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will not play in Sunday's regular season finale against the Broncos, so Carson Wentz will get the start in his place.

From the NBA, the Knicks win their ninth in a row, beat the Jazz 119-103. Kings over the Sixers 113-107. The Nuggets beat the Hawks 139-120. Nikola Jokic, a triple-double, 23 points, 17 rebounds, and 15 assists. I'm Peter Schwartz. The Infinity Sports Network is on your smart speaker. All you have to say is, play Infinity Sports Network. That's it. Play Infinity Sports Network. ♪upbeat music♪

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Final show from the After Hours super secret home base, the pillow fort, if you will, in Houston. Until we start our journey home. It's funny because my family, some of my extended family, not the ones here in Texas, but some of the extended family are like, hey, how was your trip home? Oh, well, we haven't made it yet.

We'll start our drive coming up on Thursday afternoon. Going to get a few hours of sleep when the show is done. And then we've got to pack up Princess Leia, who is good to go. Brand new batteries, some new wheel bearings. She had all kinds of attention here in Texas. But we'll stop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on Thursday night. Then we will end up in Bristol, Virginia on Friday night. And then finally back home.

15 days away. It's a long time. I know my cat is furious. It is going to be telling us all of her concerns and her complaints the second we walk in the door for probably three full days of her howling. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence working on some technical difficulties behind the scenes. But producer Pete and I back together again for the first time in 2025. And I will be with you on Sunday night.

As we process week 18 of the NFL season, we now know that Saquon Barkley will not play and a bunch of the Eagle starters will sit out in week 18. That's their regular season finale against the Giants. So he does get the 2,000 yards. He does not chase that single season rushing record. And Eric Dickerson can exult there.

101 yards shy of breaking Dickerson's record going back to 1984. And he's got the right perspective. He mentions that it's about the team and the team goals. And so I appreciate his humility. And he even said, my family cares more about it than I do. What I really want to do is win a Super Bowl. We've got some other teams that have decided they'll go ahead and rest starters like the Chiefs.

And this is kind of neat, too, because we know for the Rams, for instance, Jimmy Garoppolo will get a start this season. Well, because of the Kansas City Chiefs choosing to rest Patrick Mahomes, it will be Carson Wentz who gets the start this weekend. And I love that. I love the fact that these guys work hard. They put

as much effort into it. Maybe they don't get the same pounding, certainly not the same hits, but they put as much effort into it as the starters do, right? Because if the starter goes down, in the case of, say, a Mahomes who gets hit, has his ankle twisted under him, they want to check it. They want to make sure that he hasn't done any further damage. Well, it's...

would then be on Carson Wentz for him to run out there on the field. And we've seen that. And so now what we get is an opportunity for him to actually have a start that he can call his own and know that it's not for one snap or one play. Nah, it's for the entire game. Carson is going to visit with you here in a little bit, but he'll, he'll end up being the starting quarterback. And then we'll kind of work things from there on Carson.

who goes and who doesn't go. I mean, you remember last year how the offensive line played and rotated in and out. So those type of things.

could potentially take place in this one, depending on the positions. Have fun. Have fun. Obviously, I want to play well and have success out there and ultimately, more than anything, get a win. That's the goal. Obviously, we know the circumstances. We know kind of where we're at and the reason I'm playing and not padding and all the things, but I still go out there and expect a win. I'm going to prepare to go out there and win and have a good performance with this offense. Yeah, we're preparing for that.

A couple of other quarterback questions that we have as we head into this final weekend. Uh, we know that Jalen hurts. I mentioned the Eagles. He's still in concussion protocol that came from Nick Sirianni on Wednesday. And also to Rod Mayo is being asked about his rookie Drake may. Now here's the crazy thing. If they lose, uh,

this weekend against the Buffalo Bills, they clinch, using my air quotations, they clinch the number one overall draft pick. But it doesn't sound like Gerard Mayo is playing to lose the game, which would just be wrong for people to expect that. Instead, he is talking about his rookie quarterback and yeah, very well could see him out there.

You're going to talk to Drake here in a second. Drake's healthy. He'll be at practice today, and we'll see how it goes this week. We'll see how it goes this week. Referring to Drake, what factors will be at play when deciding whether he starts Sunday? My thing, if you talk to Drake, which you will hear soon, he's a competitor. He wants to play. And look, he's still developing, so he'll be ready to go. So if he wants to play, will he start? Drake is our starting quarterback.

If he's healthy and ready to go as we go through this week of practice, then he'll play.

So that's Gerard Mayo talking about his rookie. And Drake May did later say that he felt great. That was the word he used, even though he took a helmet hit in that loss against the Chargers. So he had to leave the game to be evaluated for a concussion. But he went on to say, I'm looking forward to being out there. I'm ready to go out there and win and compete. And yeah, any reps that you can get, especially against a team as good as the Buffalo Bills, even though we may not see all of their starters,

The fact is that he's still developing. Like Gerard Mayo said, they want to give him every last opportunity this season, his rookie year, where there's a little less pressure because the Patriots are not competing for a playoff spot. They're not going on to the postseason. This is the last time he's going to get quality snaps until next August.

And then regular season snaps in September. And so it's important for them to get as much on-the-job training for their rookie as they possibly can. But yeah, if they lose to the Bills in Foxborough Sunday, they secure that number one pick in the spring draft.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. As for the bills, we know that we will see Josh Allen initially so that he can extend his consecutive starts street street. He can say it 50 times. Well, say it five times really fast and see what happens. His consecutive starts streak.

Maybe slower, Amy, would be paramount because it's the longest active streak among quarterbacks in the NFL. And it's really important to him. It's over 100. I think it's going to be 105 this weekend, maybe 106, somewhere in there. I've got too many numbers to remember, but it's somewhere around that. And so, yeah, he's going to go out there and start, but he won't play the whole time against the Pats.

the chargers. They've already secured a wild card spot in the AFC playoff picture, going back to last weekend and their massive victory, uh, that they had the, I don't want to say it was no contest cause it was really important for them, but huge win for them in what was a walkover. And John, Jim, Jim Harbaugh, a guest with a serious XM crew on let's go. When he was asked about his plan for week 18, we're going to be playing to win. Um,

at all times that, that, that never changes. And I like what our, what, uh, Derwin James said, he's, he's our captain. Uh, we, we really do things how he, how he, uh, you know, that, that, that leadership's been already bequeathed, uh, to those, uh, tremendous leaders that we have on, on the team. And,

He said 11 wins sounds better than 10. So we're attacking it. Do you want to guide this away from your brother, though? We're attacking it. We're attacking it with an enthusiasm unknown to man. You know, the thing that doesn't resonate right now is, you know, play the backups. You know, like what are we going to do, dress 25 guys, you know, for the game? Jim, that's what some people, I think, have a hard time with is,

Well, don't play your starters. Yeah, I mean, you can only have seven inactive guys. Who are they? And it's tough to go to your team and say, well, we're not going to play you guys over here, but the rest of you get out there. We don't really care about you. You know, if you get hurt, that doesn't matter. But these six or seven guys, we're going to protect. And Jim Harbaugh of the Chargers, Jim Gray as well, and SiriusXM NFL Radio talking about the plan for Week 18. We'll watch it unfold. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence.