After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

When you're at your best, you can do great things. Working with a therapist can help you get closer to the best version of yourself, because when you feel empowered, you're more ready for life's challenges. BetterHelp is a great therapy option. It's flexible, affordable, entirely online, and it matches you with a licensed therapist. Let therapy help empower you. Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month.

That's BetterHELP.com slash positive. Goalie gummies get you so close to your goals, you can actually taste them. The trick? Simply start with bite-sized steps, like Goalie's apple cider vinegar gummies with added B vitamins for daily health. Or Goalie ashwagandha gummies to help you relax, restore, and unwind.

Tastes like wellness just got a whole lot better. And when goals taste this good, it's easy to achieve them. Goalie. Taste your goals.

Learn more at Goalie.com today. We are down to just four. Well, four teams, three games. Oh, is it starting to hurt? Are you starting to feel that pit in your stomach? Starting to anticipate the off season? Lucky for you, the NFL never goes away. I try to explain to the league that we can't miss you if you never freaking go away, but the league never goes away. Ever. Before you know it, it's going to be all the coaching hires.

So how about that? The fact that here we are into championship weekend or we're heading toward it and not one of the head coaching jobs has been filled. A lot of teams still waiting on the big names. D'Amico Ryan still the D coordinator for the Niners. He's going to be otherwise engaged at least through next weekend. Dan Quinn now can start interviews, but expected to be one of the most attractive candidates yet again after last year, even though Jerry Jones made it worth his while to stick around in Dallas.

Was it worth it? I guess only he can answer that question. I'm certain he got paid handsomely for it. Sean Payton still hasn't decided. And so right now these coaching jobs are in a holding pattern.

How often are a lot of them filled by this point? And yet not right now. And unless I missed it over the weekend because I was buried in actual games, all these offensive coordinator jobs are still open too. It is going to be a hiring frenzy once these games are done or at least through the championship weekend when we get the week off before the Super Bowl. Unless, of course, you're all about the Pro Bowl and the skills competition. Something about dodgeball. I do like dodgeball with Peyton and Eli as the captains, of course. I mean, I'd pay to watch Peyton Manning get pelted by dodgeballs. Anyway, we've got a lot still in the NFL like early offseason business that is it's just it's going to rain down on us as we get through championship week.

And right now it's been strangely quiet on the hiring front, but there are reasons for that. As for divisional weekend, defense. Defense set the tone.

It was really incredible to see the various defensive units step up and play some of their best football of the year. We're going to run through that this hour. We'll give you the turning points, the reaction. I always get to this point coming off of a Sunday night or a Sunday football weekend. And I feel like, oh my gosh, I've got one hour left.

How is it possible? I've just started and really the show is flying by. But the good news this time of the year is you've got, oh, I don't know, four more shows to get to everything. It seems to slow down as much as we are nearing the very end and the Super Bowl landing in Glendale.

And then there were four. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Good morning to you. I hope that you enjoyed your weekend. If you got snow like they did in Orchard Park, I am jealous.

We just got a bunch more rain and sleet, but no actual snow in my neighborhood. It's miserable though for a lot of fans waking up on this Monday, so I totally understand if you're a fan base that is feeling it. We're asking you on our social media, and we're getting a ton of responses so far, who or what, an individual or a team, who or what impressed you the most during this divisional round? Our show Twitter is After Hours CBS. My Twitter is ALawRadio. Few pictures from my attempt to have a social life this weekend before football started. It's not easy, but I crammed in some social activities and my favorite spot in New York City, but you'll have to check out the photos on Twitter.

I'll try to put some up on Facebook too. After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Let's start with the Sunday night game where it was a slugfest. And to be fair, it wasn't just a slugfest for the Niners, a San Francisco slugfest, because that's what this defense is known for. It is brash. It is bold.

It is in yo face. The defense is full of superstars, not just the offense. In fact, there may be more on the defensive side of the ball. The intensity, the physical nature, the aggressiveness. How many times do we see Fred Warner pointing in Dak's face and laughing at him?

It seemed like every time they attempted to get an offsides call on one of those fourth downs, those kind of funky snap counts trying to get the Niners to jump, Fred Warner would stand up behind the line and point in Dak's face and laugh at him. This group is all personality. Oh, they're all personality. And they like to set a tone.

They take pride in what they do. And so by picking off Dak Prescott twice in the first half, it wasn't so much about the points off turnovers, because there were only a pair of field goals after that. But to snuff out the Cowboys' best drive in the first half, it was a killer. How different things were going into the Cowboys' halftime locker room, right? Because they were into the red zone and Fred Warner picks off Dak on a tipped ball.

Changes everything. Now, coming into the second half, Cowboys are able to start with their own takeaway. Ray-Ray McLeod coughs up the football in a punt and right away, boom. Dallas is in the red zone.

It's like the football gods, if you believe in those. Take away one red zone opportunity, give them another one right away in the third quarter. Except once again, the Niners' defense doesn't budge, does not back down, doesn't give an inch. And so instead we got to say, oh, Brett Maher, because, you know, he's automatic these days. Twenty-five yard try from the 15-yard line on the left hash to tie the game. And the operation's good and the kick is up and the kick is good. I'm telling you, it's only the extra points that give him trouble. Maher magic. 908 left in the third quarter and the game is tied 9-9. Brad Sham, Babe Lofenberg laughing there on the Cowboys' radio network. So, yeah, they were tied at 9.

And I think that's important to know. All three of the turnovers, because there were a total three, only ever resulted in field goals. But what it also did is when the points were so hard to come by, it took away opportunities, right? Not just from the Niners, but also from the Cowboys. There was so little margin for error, as you hear, with the game tied 9-9.

So what was the turning point in this one? Okay, it wasn't all defense. There was an electric moment, a moment that you are going to see on highlight reels all over from Monday through Tuesday into championship weekend because the Niners are still alive. You're going to see it on those end of season videos that NFL films put out. And we can only hope that one George Kittle was miked up for this moment that he swears was for dramatic effect. Now they've got Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence on the same side over McGlinchey, going to roll Purdie the opposite way, going left. Purdie, time, going to throw back right, and it is juggled, and George Kittle makes the catch to midfield. What a catch by George Kittle. And the throwback there from Brock Purdie, bobbled it a couple of times, but was able to reel it in. That part of the game, you know, we needed something. We needed a spark to get the ball rolling. And for Kittle to make a play like that, you just feel it in the whole stadium, like, man, that felt good, you know, to get a big gain like that and get us going. So, you know, props to Kittle. He was one of our, like, last options in that play, but he kept the play alive by, you know, feeling space, and I got my eyes back, and he was there. So, it was awesome.

It was a bootleg. Me and Juice are on the backside, selling the outside zone away to get the defensive end across our face. Juice is the hot guy. We're trying to get the ball to either, I think it was Iyuk, Deebo, or Juice. He's the hot guy, and I'm literally not even in the reed.

So, I just saw kind of a space, and he hadn't thrown it yet, so I was just going up the field, and he gave me a catchable ball, and I was just trying to be dramatic. Just for TV, man. Oh.

Yeah. It's just for TV. Just trying to be a little dramatic, you know, get the ratings up.

That's all we're here for. Explosives can jumpstart you better than anything, and he definitely wasn't the primary on that, and he defended the play very well. And Brock came back to the inside, and Kittle just saw an opening and went down there, and Brock let it rip, and hell of a job seeing him in that spot. And then, Kittle made a hell of a catch, just like his first one of the game, too. From Brock Purdy to George Kittle to Kyle Shanahan, you hear them say, he wasn't even part of the play.

And honestly, George is a veteran. He's amazing, and this is an extremely physical game that takes a lot of energy, so I can understand it. But he wasn't even selling that he was part of the play. He was kind of languishing there, came off the line of scrimmage, took a couple of steps, looking around. But what he did was instantly jump into action when he realized his quarterback was running out of options. So, no hot read, meaning to try to get rid of it quickly when you need something.

Oh, coming in hot. Get rid of that football. He wasn't even the fourth option. In fact, I'm not even sure he was involved in the play. But he made himself part of the play because his quarterback needed him.

You know who we see this from all the time? The best tight end on the planet, Travis Kelce. Well, George Kittle is no slouch. Some would say he's the second best.

Maybe a little competition there from Dallas Goddard, Mark Andrews, but you catch my drift. This is what Travis Kelce does for Patrick Mahomes all the time. Find space, becomes available, makes himself a target.

So, George Kittle, you can start to see him. If you're doing an ISO cam on George, he realizes Brock is stuck. And so he starts to find an open space, he gets away from his DB, and he puts a hand out long enough for Brock to see him. And as he's in stride, Brock launches, the ball is bobbled up in the air, off of his face mask, back into his hands where he juggles it a couple more times before he secures it.

But the amazing thing was is that was improvisation. That's a rookie quarterback who delivers a catchable ball to a veteran. How many times it has just been so evident that Brock Purdy is not trying to win ball games by himself. He's using the guys around him. And how often have we seen Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Ayew, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle make plays for him. They reward this rookie for finding them.

They're healthy, too. And that moment, yet another spark, as you hear from all of them. Except for George, who says it was just for TV movie rights. Just for TV, man.

Yeah, exactly. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Yeah, the result is an absolute spark. A 10-play drive culminates with Christian McCaffrey in the red zone, into the end zone. We saw the toughness of a Kyle Hughes check.

I mean, everybody raising their level of play. 91 yards over six minutes. And for the Cowboys, they only manage a field goal a rest of the way.

Because, of course, the superstars are on the defense and they're not going to let you forget it. There's a quick snap to Dak Prescott on third down. Steps up in the pocket. Gets out left. He gets tackled from behind. The 49ers, Nick Bosa, Samson Evicon, combine on Dak. And the Cowboys go three and out. And they've got to put the ball back with 2.35 to play.

And the clock is rolling here. Ezekiel Elliott is going to play center. I think I saw Kellen Moore do this at Boise State about 15 years ago.

He's ineligible though. Why would they leave the ownership to do that? He snaps it back to Dak Prescott. He throws over the middle to Turpin. He gets hammered down by Jimmie Ward. The game is over. The 49ers are on their way to Philadelphia.

What a way to end it. Ezekiel Elliott just got destroyed by Aziz Alsayer right on his head. And then Jimmie Ward sawed it down right away on Turpin. The defense getting those turnovers. The offense being able to make some third downs.

I don't think in the first half we had one first down running the ball. I think they were all throwing the ball and I think that changed big in the second half. So we still got it going a little bit, wore them down a little bit, and winning the turnover battle was everything after that. We had a lot of respect for that team, all three of their phases, but we knew how good their defense was too. And we felt we really had to run the ball just to negate their pass rush because of how special of a pass rush they have. And for us to end up getting over 30 carries when you're only averaging like three, I think we had 3-5, just shows how good the team was doing. With this team, everything's intense.

That was true when I got here and it's true now. Obviously there's more on the line, but I think we're winning. We got to just do the same thing as we always do every week and that's correct.

Correct the mistakes that we make and capitalize on the strengths and keep rolling and play our best game come Sunday. Christian McCaffrey, he has been a difference maker. His arrival roughly coincides with Brock Purdy taking over as the starting quarterback. It's not a coincidence.

I don't believe in that anyway. Eighth consecutive game with a touchdown, which is the longest streak in his career, but also, are you ready? Nerd alert! 49er style, the longest streak by a niner since, oh, your favorite niner, T.O. in the late 90s, Terrell Owens. So Christian McCaffrey scored a touchdown at eight straight games and yeah, that's a big deal for an offense that has a rookie. And no, he doesn't play like a rookie. He doesn't act like a rookie.

But it helps when you have a seasoned offense and a seasoned group of veterans around him. And he knows better to trust the guys who say, that's my quarterback. He knows better. He knows that he can't do it all by himself, nor should he.

That's not the best option. So we trust the guys who are around him. Greg Papa and Tim Ryan on Niners Radio. As for the Dallas Cowboys, the margin of victory was slim.

The margin of error even slimmer. Two more picks for a Dak who led the league in interceptions during the regular season. In fact, finishes the year with 17 total. And he's never had a problem taking accountability, taking responsibility. He does that very well. I've got to play better than I did tonight. Simple as that.

Yeah, simple as that. I mean, all I can think about is right now in this game and how disappointed it is. How disappointed I am in my play. How disappointed I am for the guys in the locker room who play their asses off and we weren't able to get it done. There's no doubt that we'll be back in this position. It's just about winning. No doubt. No doubt at all. I mean, what we've done as an organization and taking a step and yeah, I mean, it all sucks right now.

It all sucks. Don't get me wrong. But there's no doubt when you talk to the guys in the locker room, you talk to the men that have put in this time. You know, the pillars of this team have to get some guys back.

But there's no doubt that we'll be back and that gives me confidence. Gives anybody in that locker room confidence, I hope. One of those guys is Tony Pollard. Huge loss for the Cowboys in the first half. Breaks his leg on a play that looked very similar to the play that injured Patrick Mahomes. So a big defensive player kind of rolling up on his ankle and his lower leg and twisting it in an awkward manner. And as it turns out for Pollard, worst case scenario, he does require surgery and they did not have him the rest of the way. And Mike McCarthy, Ezekiel Elliott, they're all admitting that it changed the game plan for Dallas.

Ball distribution focal points that you're trying to hit. So I mean, definitely Tony's one of the top or maybe the top ball person that you want to get. You want it in his hands. So, yeah, that was definitely a shot for us. As for the Cowboys, if you're wondering about changes, yes, Dan Quinn may leave for another job. But Jerry Jones has already indicated and did again last night, as disappointed as he was, that Mike McCarthy's job is not in jeopardy. If Mike wants to stay, which presumably he does, with some unfinished business and a really good team, then he's staying. Mike's not getting fired. As for Dak, you're not firing your quarterback.

He's signed that big extension. And even though Jerry admits that he believed the Cowboys would have the edge at quarterback, he did say that I thought that would give us an edge and it didn't transpire. For Dak, the interceptions, he's going to have to cut down on them like it or not.

That was the Achilles heel this year a lot of times. We've seen him play at a very high level, but we've also seen him crash back down to earth. That's who he is. He's not a Joe Burrow. He's not Patrick Mahomes on one leg. He's not even Jalen Hurts right now in the same division, but he's still an above average quarterback. And I would just say this to Cowboys fans who are ready to junk him on the side of the road, toss him out the window into a ditch. Who are you going to replace him with? That's always the question. Let's just say for the sake of argument, they bring in Jimmy Garoppolo.

Is that an upgrade? Not for that offense. Are you going to go after Tom Brady?

He's not mobile. Who else is available? Derek Carr. How many Cowboys fans out there would tell me that Derek Carr, they believe is an upgrade over Dak Prescott? With Dak, you take the good, you take the bad. He's not a top flight quarterback in the NFL, but he can make every throw. And he's very smart and he's a leader and he's well liked in that locker room.

Those guys are defending him. The defense gave them that extra lift this year and was good for multiple wins. Maybe add another wide receiver or two. Certainly something's going on with Zeke. You got to make sure you shore up your offensive line. You got to have a cushion for when your quarterback does turn the ball over.

And I would just say it again. Josh Allen's not receiving the same criticism. It's partly Dak. It's partly being a Dallas Cowboy.

It's one of the most high profile positions in all of sports. Dallas Cowboys quarterback. He didn't play well in this game, but the Cowboys still won a road playoff game, had double figure wins.

Is it disappointing? Absolutely. Well, let's give credit to the Niners, too. They played him perfectly for the most part, and they were flying all over the field. It was a defensive stalemate. Which meant that those errors, they hurt more than they might in another game. Eagles.

You want to talk about a defensive effort from the word jump. No breathing room for the Giants, and Jalen Hurts is just fine. And then the AFC.

We'll get to it. Bills and Bengals in the snow. Another no doubter. This was not quite the weekend a lot of people were expecting, which I think is fun.

When you make predictions, the NFL laughs in your face. What impressed you the most? Either a team or an individual on Twitter.

A law radio. Also on our Facebook page. Good morning to you. I hope it's a happy Monday.

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Simply start with bite sized steps. Like goalies apple cider vinegar gummies with added B vitamins for daily health or goalie ashwagandha gummies to help you relax, restore and unwind. Tastes like wellness just got a whole lot better. And when goals taste this good, it's easy to achieve them. Goalie. Taste your goals.

Learn more at goalie.com today. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. When you're at your best, you can do great things. Working with a therapist can help you get closer to the best version of yourself.

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. It's After Hours CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. The New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles. Hertz lines them up. Pascal wide to the far side.

Brown to the near side. Smith in the slot. Now Gamewell goes wide to the far side of the field. Empty backfield. Hertz looks. Hertz fires.

Complete. He's got Dallas Goddard spinning across the goal line into the end zone. The Eagles score. Smith on the right hip of A.J.

Brown. Hertz in the gun. Hertz screens it on the far side to Devante Smith.

Across the five. Into the end zone. Touchdown Devante Smith.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Meryl Reese on Eagles Radio. They hit them early. They hit them often. This was TKO before the first quarter was done. The game wasn't technically over in Philadelphia, but those were all the points the Eagles needed because the Giants only ended up scoring just the one touchdown. You want to talk about an overwhelming performance. For sure, you can look at what the Bengals did in Buffalo. And yes, you can look at the way the Niners defense was able to dominate the Dallas offense for the most part. With only a couple of little blips on the radar for the Cowboys. But an overwhelming performance by the Eagles. And it was so early and it was so quick that the Giants never had room to breathe. Four touchdown drives in the first half for a 28-0 advantage.

And here are some of the other gaudy numbers that I wrote down because you have to write them down to believe them. 43 plays for the Eagles in the first half. 19 for the Giants. 258 total yards.

64 for New York. The Eagles had 140 yards rushing, which is nearly triple the number of total yards the Giants had in that first half. 4 for 4 in the red zone. 6 for 7 on third down. Meanwhile the Giants had just a single first down.

This was as lopsided as it gets. Jalen Hurts has not missed a beat. And even though he's calm after the game, you got to know that this is a huge relief for him, for his team.

That he's healthy and now they get to hope. Very important for us to come out and start fast. And I think as a football team, we just came out, we played a lot of energy.

We prepared really well throughout the week. And we always talk about challenging everybody to play the best ball, right? Because I truly never put a limit on myself and I never put a limit on what this team can do.

So there's always more out there for us to get. To have him out there is like, I know this is high praise, but to have him out there is like having, I shouldn't even go there, but like he's having Michael Jordan out there. He's your leader. He's your leader.

He's your guy. Hopefully that's the biggest respect I can pay to him, comparing to his ability to being on the field to a Michael Jordan type. Like this guy leads, he brings this calmness to the entire team. He plays great football.

He's tough as they come. Yeah, I mean, to me, ain't nobody has played any better football than him. Wow, Nick Therianni raving about his quarterback Jalen Hurts, who has three total touchdowns. And actually the Eagles run game because they were able to control the ball and to run the ball. The Giants never really had a whiff of any type of an opportunity. And not even just because they were down 28-0.

Because I kept thinking, hey, the Jaguars were down 27-0 against the Chargers, but clearly the Eagles are not the Chargers. They had three rushing touchdowns and 268 yards on the ground. Just the mentality, you know, when we know we're going to get a chance to run the ball, the O-line and running backs, we take it upon ourselves to just make a statement.

So every time. They did everything well. 10 of 14 on third down, four or five in the red zone, 270 yards, controlled the game, 6.1 yard average. They played good offensive football. They're a good team. They have good schemes. They have good players and they did a better job of executing their stuff.

I think Wink was dialing up a bunch of different things and they had it rolling tonight. Give them credit. There is a reason why Wink Martindale is a head coaching candidate. We know that. And yet on this particular day for the Giants, really none of their coordinators, coaches looked good. The players didn't either. It was all systems.

Failure is too strong of a word. This team is definitely ahead of schedule. The fact that they were able to win their first playoff game since 2011, going back over a decade, right? To be able to kind of get that first mark and that first step under Brian Daybal is huge. But you can tell he has higher expectations for this team and didn't want to hear anything or would never say, hey, we're playing with house money. We're ahead of schedule.

Nah, it hurts the same. Really got beat in all facets. So wasn't one thing in particular was, you know, team game and just didn't get it done. So congratulations to Philly. They get to move on.

And unfortunately, we don't. I appreciate our team. I told those guys I appreciate their effort the entire year, their work ethic, the people in the organization. But Philly deserve to win that game. So it's crash landing in the playoffs. It, you know, losses hurt. These losses hurt even more. A lot of times we've been in losing season. So like near the final two games, you're kind of like ready to go. You know, to be honest, it's like, you know, you're not going to the playoffs. You're kind of just like playing because you have games left and you know, guys are like ready to go home at that point. This year has been different. Is it me or did did you hear the ping pong balls in the background?

Final two games, you're kind of like ready to go. You know, to be honest, they're not playing ping pong already in the Giants locker room. No way. That had to be like some kind of a recording, a new piece of music that they're using. I think that's ping pong, unfortunately. Maybe it's from the Eagles locker room and it just happened to be really thin walls through the vents.

Maybe it's the family room where the families are hanging out. They're playing ping pong. Come on. How would the Giants be playing ping pong? As Leonard Williams is talking about his sadness over the season coming to an end and Brian Dable describes it as a crash landing.

There's other Giants playing ping pong. No, there's no way. No way. No, I can't. Even if it's true, I don't want to know it.

The final two games, you're kind of like ready to go. You know, to be honest. No, no, no. It's got to be the family room. It's got to be their lounge and there's a bunch of kids, like Giants kids there who, no, no way.

That's crazy. If it was me and I had just gotten beaten that badly like a freaking drum, I would be taking those ping pong paddles and like hitting things and hitting the ping pong ball so hard it would crack in half. There's no way.

You would not want me to have a ping pong paddle in my hands after a loss like that. Maybe that's what they were doing. They were just taking balls and just smacking them in rage just across the locker room. Yeah, it sounded much gentler than that. It did.

It sounded like a game. Alright, coming up, defense wins championships. Never more on display than this weekend with the Niners and the Eagles who will meet in the NFC title tilt and then the Bengals' hello defense as well as the Chiefs.

Yup. Often Cincinnati and Kansas City defenses get overlooked. Not this weekend. Not by me.

What impressed you the most, a team or an individual? On Twitter, after hours, CBS or our Facebook page. You are listening to the after hours podcast. Or goalie ashwagandha gummies to help you relax, restore and unwind. Tastes like wellness just got a whole lot better. And when goals taste this good, it's easy to achieve them. Goalie. Taste your goals. Learn more at goalie.com today. Goalie gummies get you so close to your goals you can actually taste them. The trick?

Simply start with bite-sized steps. Like Goalie's apple cider vinegar gummies with added B vitamins for daily health. Or Goalie ashwagandha gummies to help you relax, restore and unwind.

Tastes like wellness just got a whole lot better. And when goals taste this good, it's easy to achieve them. Goalie. Taste your goals. Learn more at goalie.com today. Goalie gummies get you so close to your goals you can actually taste them. The trick?

Simply start with bite-sized steps. Like Goalie's apple cider vinegar gummies with added B vitamins for daily health. Or Goalie ashwagandha gummies to help you relax, restore and unwind.

Tastes like wellness just got a whole lot better. And when goals taste this good, it's easy to achieve them. Goalie. Taste your goals.

Learn more at goalie.com today. ...the Dikembe Mutombo finger. Three are left, two are right. Here is Prescott back.

Has time. Throws out left. Intercepted! Ball got tipped up and taken by Fred Warner.

Jimmy Ward tipped the ball. And Fred Warner with the I.N.T. Big city, baby! Defense wins championships. Defense wins championships.

Defense wins championships. I wanted this so bad. I dreamed this, man! I don't know who the tackle is I'm going against, but I'm gonna kill him. No! No!

I checked all the boxes. Late rush, he throws it down the field. Intercepted at the 30.

25-20. Micah Fitzpatrick goes into the end zone. Defense. Defense. Defense. That's dangerous. Definitely dangerous defense this weekend. I'm telling you what, you're gonna hear a lot about the quarterbacks, their successes, their failures.

But we do things differently here on the show. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Whether it be in short sleeves or in the snow, defense set the tone. And we do believe here on After Hours that defense can win you some bling.

I'll just play a bling. Being sported this weekend in the winning locker rooms. Kevin Harlan on Westwood 1. Merrill Reese on Eagles Radio. Ian Eagle also on Westwood 1. And then on San Francisco 49ers Radio Network, Greg Papa. Those are the voices you heard.

How about some more voices? Going in order of the games. The Kansas City Chiefs defense knew it had to put together a near perfect second half effort. Once Patrick Mahomes, their fearless leader, was hobbled with the high ankle sprain. Obviously, you know, you got upper level play, man. Especially with a player of his caliber, man.

Best quarterback in the NFL. So when he goes down, we got upper level play and try to give the offense as many opportunities as possible down the stretch. And I feel like on defense we did a hell of a job winning key situations. We got some field goals when we needed to. My hat goes off to the defense. You can't move forward in the NFL playoffs if your defense doesn't play well. And I thought from the DBs to the defensive line to the linebackers, I thought everybody was flying around making plays.

And I just, again, my hat goes off to the guys. After the Chiefs have put the points on the board, the fourth quarter, the rest of it belonged to the Chiefs defense. Oh, and Harrison Butker who makes a diving tackle of sorts of Jamal Agnew who would have been off to the house. So Harrison Butker as well as two takeaways to slam the door in the face of the Jaguars and pick up their quarterback who was hobbling on one leg. You hear Nick Bolton and then Andy Reid, head coach who, by the way, has now won 20 playoff games, 10 for Philadelphia and 10 for Kansas City. Moving on, his former franchise, the Eagles, the top seed, they will host the NFC championship and they squashed any hopes. I mean, this was cruel against a division rival in the New York Giants, but the defense was overwhelming from start to finish.

There's a statement that let them know what type of team he is in the league. I know people have had a little sour taste in their mouth because of what happened the last game of the year. But s**t, you know what time it was?

We kept hearing the noise outside the buildings and s**t. We kept it in house and just played ball. We let them do all the damn talking and we came out here doing all that s**t. You kind of pay attention to the morale and the body language of the team, the whole team when they're out there on the field. Not to say they gave up, but you know, anytime you go up like 28 or 21-0 on a team, it's definitely going to be hard to fight out of that hole. And you kind of sense that from, and on our end we just wanted to make sure that we came out of halftime and we started strong. So we didn't give them any kind of momentum.

First you hear Darius Slay with a few words that have to be bleeped out for emphasis, talking you know what. And then James Bradbury who had an interception off Daniel Jones and he indicates that the defense can be, are you ready for another D word? Demoralizing. Dominant?

Yes. Demoralizing also. A performance like that can just take all the wind out of the sails of an offense even if it comes in hot.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. Moving on to the Bengals. Tell you what, they get overshadowed on the defensive side of the ball because of Joe Burrow and all the weapons and the gaudy numbers they put up. But to be able to go into Orchard Park in the snow and limit Josh Allen, putting a ton of pressure on him, allowing a season low 10 points, only 4 of 12 on 3rd down. Not to mention the late interception. The Bengals defense deserves a whole lot of emojis with stars for eyeballs.

A great start like that. It makes our job easier. We can pin our errors back, rush the passer, get to the ball. We're a tough team to beat when we do that. We've been doing it all year.

You better send those refunds. Alright, I know Joe Burrow doesn't play defense, but still. Yeah, the Bengals on both sides of the football starting on the line of scrimmage and expanding, emanating outward, winning their individual battles. How about the offensive line with three backups? They had lost three starters in recent weeks, and yet they were able to run the ball more than what even Joe Burrow expected, as the guy who's got the ball in his hand.

I guess I put the wrong one on. 172 rushing yards for these Bengals, plus 8 minutes time of possession in Buffalo. That's absurd. The ball control game with the 34 carries, Joe mixing over 100 yards, and then the defense doing its job and limiting the bills to the point where they never really had that momentum, that rhythm. How about the play by Cam Britt Taylor, who not only knocks a ball out of Gabe Davis' hands when it could have been a walk-in touchdown, but also an interception at the end of the game.

An opportunity for snow angels in Buffalo, right? So the Bengals defense deserves a ton of attention and really is a major piece of why they're in their second consecutive championship game for the first time in franchise history. And finally, Niners, one of the best defenses in the NFL over the course of what is now a 12-game win streak. And man, Nick Bosa spent because he gave everything he had and left it all on the field. I played my heart out tonight, and I think I did a good job. I'm pretty, I mean, I'm always happy after a playoff win, but I feel like I did a good part in the win today. So the sacks are, they happen and they don't happen.

They come in bunches though, so we'll see. We're the best team, best defense I feel in the NFL, and we've been that way since week one. Our physicality, each level, everybody will hit you.

Everybody swarmed to the ball. We caused turnovers, and I think we got the most picks in the league too, right? Yeah.

So, yeah, we're the best in the league. That's Deomadore Lenore, the cornerback who picked off Deck Prescott on the first takeaway by the Niners. And before that, Joey, Joey, I keep doing that.

Sometimes I write Joey. Nick Bosa, easy come, easy go with the sacks. Sometimes they're there, sometimes they're not.

But you know what? He was everywhere. The speed of that defense and Dallas matched it. This was a defensive battle. Just, there's no margin for error and for the Cowboys to lose the turnover battle on the road. That was, I mean, unfortunately for Dak, what people are going to focus on. Also the loss of Tony Pollard and the fact that their run game never really found any traction.

It's like they were running in snow. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Really quickly want to just correct something that I said in error a couple of times earlier on the show. I mentioned that this was a divisional weekend that was not at all like what we saw last year, which was maybe the best weekend of football most people can remember in their lifetimes, right? And I did say that all four road teams won. I was wrong about that, obviously. The Chiefs were able to come back and beat the Bills in overtime last year in the divisional round because of 13 seconds, right?

13 seconds was enough for them to tie the game and send it into overtime. So I apologize for that. Yes, the Bengals won in Kansas City in championship weekend because Casey still was alive. So forgive me for that. Sometimes if you asked me, it depends on what day it is, but if you asked me who won the last five Super Bowls, it might take me a few minutes to remember all the details. They sort of blend together after years and years of doing this.

And yes, I know that makes me sound old. We're asking you on Twitter and Facebook what impressed you the most this weekend. Individual team will continue forward with that. We're getting a lot of response on both Twitter, ALawRadio, as well as on our Facebook page. Bengals and Bills, a couple moments that I just want to acknowledge even outside of the game or off a field, I should say. The snow was gorgeous, of course. It was all over the field and everywhere.

And I was jealous of those fans who were cheering in the snow and wearing their snow hats. DeMar Hamlin and his family were on hand. They were up in his suite. He was in the locker room as well at halftime. And I understand that he was with his team at various points before and after the game.

They showed him, I think it was second quarter, but don't quote me on that. And he was wearing a mask and he was up in his suite with his family, but man, to see him just exhorting the crowd and cheering and lifting his hands up. And it was neat. It certainly was heartwarming when you think about where he was at the beginning of this month. And also, I want to mention that the sister of Peyton Hillis, the former NFL running back, she was posting on Facebook over the weekend.

And so I saw the update and tweeted it during, I think it was Chiefs Jaguars when I tweeted it at halftime. He's home from the hospital. And while he's also still recovering, his health looks good. And so I was thinking about the fact that in the month of January had the NFL and its family got two miracles. In the case of DeMar Hamlin and then also in the case of Peyton Hillis, who went through harrowing ordeals and not only are living to tell about it and to be around for their family and friends moving forward, but also really to lift, uplift and encourage those who were thinking about them, praying for them and supporting them. So great news for both DeMar's family as well as Peyton's family.

Glad to hear that they're both doing so well. We could actually see DeMar upright and standing and cheering yesterday. So we have our Final Four. We've got Championship Weekend all set. We've got four more shows to talk about it.

But find us on Twitter and Facebook. What impressed you most this weekend? There's a lot to soak in. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.

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When you're at your best, you can do great things. Working with a therapist can help you get closer to the best version of yourself. Because when you feel empowered, you're more ready for life's challenges. BetterHelp is a great therapy option. It's flexible, affordable, entirely online, and it matches you with a licensed therapist. Let therapy help empower you. Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHELP.com slash positive.