After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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That's betterhelp.com slash positive. That's how we got to the AFC Championship on Sunday, and man, Arrowhead was lit, ready, and waiting. And the temps, too. Oh my gosh, I love the cold. I really do, and I love snow, and it's been a pretty mild winter in my neighborhood, which is kind of sucky. I've been praying for snow so far.

We haven't had a whole lot. But then I saw the CBS crew posted up outdoors at their desk to prepare for the AFC Championship, and I actually felt a twinge of pity for our friend Boomer Esiason. He was wearing a hat over his earmuffs, and then he had a coat that was pretty much wrapped up all the way to his face, and I swear he had five layers of clothing on. The man looked like he was about 18 sizes bigger than what he normally is. I was all about the beefcake, boys. Yeah, there was plenty of beefcake on that body trying to keep him warm, and so I texted him to tell him I really liked his hat. I cannot share with you the reply that he sent back, and actually I'm pretty sure that he was unable to text because his fingers were too cold because there were all kinds of typos in the text, but I got the gist, the four-letter words and all.

Poor guy was frozen. I told him, hang tough. Boomer, you're a former NFL MVP.

Come on, let's go. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. You all are full of hot takes in the wake of Championship Sunday. It's a good thing you don't have my job, huh? Or maybe you wish you had my job so you could bitch about referees for four hours because that makes great radio. We're asking you the best and worst moments of Championship Sunday, either on Twitter, After Hours, CBS, or you can find me on my Twitter if you two would like to call me some names. Fans get so emotional, either fans who actually have a rooting interest or fans who had a financial interest, or just fans who feel like they were proved horribly wrong and so they have to have someone to blame.

Generally, the radio host becomes the punching bag. It's okay. I'm so used to it.

So yeah, on Twitter or on our Facebook page, After Hours with Amy Lawrence and our phone number 855-212-4227. So for the AFC Championship, you had the talk of burrowhead leading up to this game. We know Mike Hilton actually got caught on camera saying it on the field last week. We know the fans picked it up. The Cincinnati mayor, a little creepy, but got into the whole fray with his tweet earlier in the week.

This I'll read to you verbatim. Joseph Lee Burrow, who's 3-0 against Mahomes, I guess I didn't even feel the need to give him a first name, has been asked by officials to take a paternity test confirming whether or not he's his father. Ew. And of course, Pat's wife gets into the action because she cannot let a barb go.

Weak and embarrassing was her reaction to that tweet from the mayor of Cincinnati. I think it's a little bit creepy myself, just ew, but we didn't hear anything from the Chiefs. You can be sure they were coached to keep their traps shut leading up to this game. Let the Bengals do all the yapping. Let the fans incite our fans by calling it burrowhead. Raise your hand if you actually thought the Chiefs didn't know or didn't care what was being said. Right.

I didn't think so. Especially as they were hosting a fifth straight AFC Championship at... Arrowhead. The Bengals wanted to turn it into something else, but early on they were dominated in that fourth quarter. Three sacks of Joe Burrow. And I was instantly going back to the Tennessee game in the divisional round a year ago. Remember how bad the offensive line was in front of Joe Burrow when he got sacked nine times? Now obviously the Bengals still won, but I'm thinking, oh no.

I wonder if he's having flashbacks because I'm having flashbacks. So yeah, three sacks in the first quarter, which if I remember hearing correctly is the most he's ever been sacked in a single quarter. And so Kansas City is holding the ball for long chunks of time, but only manages a couple of field goals. They actually had a touchdown that was wiped out by a holding flag in the red zone, so lest you think that the referees were only calling penalties on the Bengals. And so that first quarter was fairly lopsided, but the Chiefs didn't have a lot of points to show for it.

Right. So they've got six points. The Bengals have no yards, and yet they still aren't even up by a touchdown.

At halftime it's 13-6, so we get one touchdown, which is a home strike to Travis Kelce. He's posted up. I mean he could be an incredible power forward. He probably was in his younger days. But he's posted up in the end zone because...what back injury? Did you guys hear that this weekend?

He was actually a game time decision. Because on Friday, very last snap of practice, Kelce tweaked his back and was in agony. And they were doing what they could. They were obviously pumping in full of anything they could possibly pump in full of. But there was no sign of it. There was more sign of Mahomes high ankle sprain than there was of Travis Kelce with any back pain.

So yeah, he posts up. He hauls in the only touchdown of the first half. They do get a Jalen Watson interception off Joe Burrow, but ultimately it's a bunch of field goals.

And it's 13-6 at the half. Both Jim Nantz and Tony Romo were making a note of the fact that the Bengals had the ball to start the second half. And that last year in the AFC Championship, it was the second half where they made their move. They were lying in wait. It looked like the Chiefs were in control.

They had a double figure lead. And then the Bengals come out with their adjustments and they completely change the tone and the tenor of this game in the second half. So as they are mounting a drive on their first possession of the third quarter, I'm thinking, oh man. Everybody's thinking, oh man.

Here we go. And yeah, you started to see more of what the Bengals can do, specifically when they've got the ability for Burrow to connect with Chase. And I mean, even if there are six defenders on the guy, generally he finds space. Shotgun snap to Joe. He throws it down the left sideline. A leaping catch for a touchdown!

T. Higgins, full-grown man, leaps at the goal line and reels it in for a potential tying touchdown. A 27-yard thing of beauty on the throw from Joe Burrow. Yeah, this was one of those games where you didn't see a lot of the flashes, right? But what you did see is that because the Chiefs had left opportunities out there on the field, the Bengals were going to be hanging around. And even if they didn't have their rhythm for long stretches and credit the defense, credit the pressure from Chris Jones and Frank Clark and the others in Kansas City.

Credit the Steve Spagnuolo defense. It never really felt comfortable because they were just a touchdown away. They were just a couple of good drives away. And I kept thinking about the offense that we saw against the Bills, but honestly this was totally different. They barely ran the ball. They were going big or they were going home. And so they're able to tie the game. And then you've got, it seemed like, and actually Burrow said this after the game, it seemed like the tide was turning, right? Because you've got them tying the game. T. Higgins, over two defenders, a 27-yard strike, a perfect shot from Joe Burrow.

They're tied. And then the Chiefs have got a limping Patrick Mahomes. You could tell his ankle really started to bother him the more snaps he took. Juju Smith-Schuster's off the field. Meeko Hardeman gets hurt. He's off the field. You've got guys dropping like flies.

Willie Gay, I mean, he's defense, but he was off the field. Kadarius Toney never comes back in this game. So they're down to essentially two veteran targets from Mahomes and Isaiah Pacheco, right? I mean, it seemed like the Wolves were closing in on the Kansas City Chiefs.

But then comes the MVS drive, right? So it's Travis Kelce. He's the security blanket. But Marquess Valdes-Scantling, I wonder if Aaron Rodgers was thinking, I taught him that. I trained him.

I taught him that. MVS with a 25-yard catch in the third quarter on this drive. Then he has that risky and a little bit scary moment where he reaches the ball across the first down line, only to yank it back, lest it get knocked away. At that point, he was down.

But still, it's that moment where you're thinking, what are you doing, Tyler Huntley? And so the ball gets pulled back, but he does get the first down. And then when Patrick Mahomes needed him, it's a play in which he wasn't the first option.

He wasn't the second option. Mahomes is having to move around. I saw one former NFL QB describe it this way or break down the play this way. I don't even know how Mahomes saw him because MVS is running a post route. Mahomes has got guys running interference. How can he even see? The pressure is coming.

And yet, that's what he does. Mahomes out of the pocket, throws on the move downfield to the end zone. Valdez-Scantlin is there for the touchdown.

In a sitting position, he holds it in. Kansas City regains the lead. A 19-yard beep-beep from Patrick Mahomes. Oh yeah, he caught that ball and parked it. Two cheeks down in the end zone. That's Ian Eagle with the call on Westwood 1.

But you know, the second they get that 7-point lead, it seems like they make a couple of mistakes that certainly could be fatal. Mahomes has this funky empty-handed fumble. The ball's hard, obviously. Hard as a rock. It's cold.

It's hard to grip. So the ball just kind of falls out of his hand and instantly Cincinnati is in Chiefs territory. Now, here's again where you see the flashes, the lightning, and you think, oh man, that's it. You made one too many mistakes, Kansas City.

Or at least that's what I'm thinking. They're stuffed on three plays, but they decide to go for it on fourth down. I swear Joe Burrow prefers the moments where they seem impossible. On 4th and 6, he catches the shotgun snap. He's back to throw. He flings it deep downfield. Chase makes the catch at the 6-yard line. He beat Brian Cook, leaping for the football at the 6.

And it's first and goal, a 35-yard gain. Peyron to his right. Motion man Higgins to the left. Takes the snap. Hand off.

Peyron trying to bulldoze. They will push him in. Touchdown, Bengals. Cincinnati an extra point away from tying this one up. Once again, you hear Bengals radio with Dan Hoard, Dave Lapham.

We'll hear from them again. And then Westwood won. So yes, tied again. Early fourth quarter, it's 20-20. Honestly, I had no idea who was going to win this game at that point. It felt like the momentum multiple times was in the favor of the Bengals. But every single time the Chiefs, wait for it, defense had an answer. So if you're going to come to me and say something along the lines of, this was Mahomes being better than Burrow. Well, Mahomes had some moments, but so did Burrow.

Nah, that's not what this game was about. I'm going to tell you either you're being lazy or ignorant or you just didn't watch the game. The defense has played a humongous role in this game. The Chiefs defense for the pressure they put on Burrow, the 5 sacks and the dozen quarterback hits. But how about the awful mistake that a member of the Bengals defense makes at the worst possible time? The defenses played a huge role in limiting the opportunities and it also forcing field goals in the red zone. I know these two defenses get overlooked, but they both had moments where they were shining in the AFC Championship.

It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. So the fourth quarter, they're tied at 20. There's a tipped interception, the second for Joe Burrow, but Kansas City does nothing with it. Both interceptions. The defense worked so hard to get them off Burrow and the Chiefs gave the ball right back.

Or not right back, I guess, but did give the ball back without any points. And so we're going to fast forward to a minute left in this game because this is the kind of sequence that you have to see to believe. So Cincinnati has the football and a minute to go, facing a third and 16.

I mean, Joe Burrow thrives in these moments. He finds Hayden Hurst, boom, fresh set of downs. So once again, they're trying to find some ground. They're trying to get into field goal range, run out, run as much time off the clock, but still get into field goal range. So they leave not even 13 seconds for Patrick Mahomes. They face yet another third down.

And what did I say about defense? Dunlap also lining up inside. Over the right guard, Max Sharpering. Third down and eight, Cincinnati Burrow retreating. And now he's going to be sacked! Down he goes!

Down he goes! Chris Jones destroying the blocker on the near side. So Chris Jones has a monster sack with a minute to go. He also forced an intentional grounding, by the way, on that same drive. So Chris Jones has the sack with a minute to go. The Bengals have to punt. Right. And again, there's all, there's very critical plays along the juncture.

So you're going to hear a bunch of them because all of them deserve recognition. Special teams played a role in this final minute. 35 punt.

Very returnable. Taken by Sky Moore at the 20. Once a right return. Sky Moore at the edge. 35. Sky Moore 40. Up the sideline and near midfield. Sky Moore in front of the Cincy bench.

Where will they mark him out? It's a 51-yard punt. 24 yards on the return.

There is no penalty flag. The line of scrimmage for the Chiefs will be their own 47-yard line. 29-yard punt return for Sky Moore.

I actually saw one football analyst, I think he covers the Colts, say Sky Moore just won the game for the Chiefs. Now I was thinking let's not jump the gun. They still have a long way to go. They're at midfield. But yes, 30 yards essentially up the sideline on the punt return.

They're back to midfield. So now you're down to about 30 seconds to go. Isaiah Pacheco picks up six yards. A hard fought six yards on first down. But once again, the Chiefs are facing do or die with 17 seconds left.

And Patrick Mahomes on one and a half legs. 17 seconds left in regulation. 20-20 tie. AFC Championship. Third and four, Kansas City at the Bengal 47-yard line. Chiefs out of timeouts.

Bengals four-man rush. Mahomes trying to buy some time on that bad ankle. Moving to his right. He is now scrambling and he's going to get a first down. And now gets hit late. He gets hit late. He gets hit late. Mahomes gets hit late. It'll be a 15-yard penalty on top of the game. And the game should be bound to the 35-yard line.

Mahomes with a deep drop. Now moving in the pocket. Running to the right and running well.

He's at the 50. He's trying to run for the first down. He goes out of bounds. And the Bengals push him after he was out of bounds. Multiple flags are going to tack 15 yards onto this play. 8 seconds left in regulation. And with that penalty, the Chiefs will be in field goal reign.

The two versions of that fateful moment there with about, at this point it's like 12-10 seconds to go in the game. Mahomes is able to scramble so that's the first piece. A hobbled Patrick Mahomes somehow gets around the right end for 5 yards. I mean where there's a will there's a way with Pat, right?

High ankle sprain, limping, pain be damned. I'm going to get that first down if it kills me. Which I'm sure he's feeling it now. But on top of that, and they weren't in field goal range yet. But on top of that, Joseph Assai shoves him when he's already fully out of bounds. And my first thought is holy crap that was dangerous.

I actually tweeted that. That was a dangerous hit. Mahomes went flying, thankfully he was okay but landed on his back. Assai crashed into another person and then they both smashed into the bench. A lot of different people could have been hurt. There's a lot of reasons you don't hit people when they're out of bounds but one of them is because a lot of times those surfaces beyond 2 or 3 yards off the field are slippery and with cleats they're really dangerous. We've seen guys tear ACLs by sliding into those areas near the bench. They're supposed to be covered up for the most part but you could see everybody went flying. So that was a dangerous moment.

Assai himself seemingly suffered a knee injury of some sort. Obviously, as you hear with Dan Horton and Dave Lapham on the Bengals version of the call, Dave Lapham knew it immediately. And the Bengals push him after he was...

He knew it right away that that was game. As long as Harrison Butker made the field goal, that was a mistake you just can't make in that moment. This will be a 45-yard attempt from the far hash. At 8 seconds to go in regulation. Cincinnati does have one timeout left. Harrison Butker the biggest kick of his Chiefs life. Placement is down. Butker's kick is up.

The spinning kick high floating in the air. And it is good! Good! Goalie gummies get you so close to your goals you can actually taste them. The trick?

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That's better H-E-L-P dot com slash positive. His chief's life. That's awkward to say.

It's just tough to say. So ultimately yes, but Kurt nails the 45 yard field goal. He was brilliant in this game with three seconds left. And the Chiefs secure their third Super Bowl appearance in four seasons. Andy Reid will have the opportunity to face his former franchise. Remember he had ten playoff wins and a Super Bowl appearance with the Eagles going back to the 04 Super Bowl. But he was with them from 1999 through 2012. Now he's got, I think it's eleven playoff wins with the Chiefs.

And we'll get to see his former team. I had a great time there. So 14 years.

A long time, huh? And I'm happy for them. I'm happy for the city. They're passionate. They love football. I can't wait until Kansas City and Philly clash.

It's going to be awesome, man. What a great Super Bowl it will be. So Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs. This one was gutty.

It took grit. And that really applies to both teams. Four times the Bengals and the Chiefs have met in the last 13 months.

All four games have come down to just three points. I mean you couldn't ask for two teams to be more tightly and evenly matched. It's great for football.

That was beautiful. If you don't love how this one turned out, it's great for football. I mean it's a war of attrition.

It's survive and advance. But nobody's going to feel sorry about the injuries. And of course we know about the Niners situation. We'll hear from them on the back half of the hour. But straight ahead, the Chiefs did not respond to the Bengals and to the Cincinnati trash talking. But they were listening. They waited.

They saved it up and boy did they let it fly after the game. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Good morning to you. It's a Monday. We can do this here on CBS Sports Radio.

You are listening to the After Hours Podcast. The Cincinnati Bengals. The Kansas City Chiefs. Tommy Townsend the holder.

We are tied at 20. 45-yard attempt. Looking for the lead. Buckner. Snap. Placement. Buckner's kick.

He's got it. Kansas City in trunks with three seconds remaining. The Chiefs 23.

The Bengals 20. To be seconds away again of getting back there and watching them celebrate, it's horrible. Because this team has invested so much in each other to get to this point. And we've been playing playoff football really since Halloween.

We just didn't know it. We had to win 10 games in a row to be here. And just really proud of the way the guys show up. They're so consistent every single day. The way they fought to the final whistle today. Off the field. On the money.

And after hours. It's time to talk football with Amy Lawrence. Zach Taylor, head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. He's one of those guys who always conveys what he's feeling. He's not stoic.

He's very expressive on the sidelines. Whether it be in the highs or whether it be in the lows. And to come so close but to be denied that opportunity to try again.

To look for redemption and the chance to catch up with your unfinished business. Of course it hurts. It absolutely does. But these two teams have played four times in just over a year. And all of their games have been separated by just three points. So yeah, toe to toe. It was grit. It was guts. It was grind. It was heart, soul. It was blood, sweat and tears. It was guys dropping like flies.

I mean they put everything out there. And I appreciate the opportunity to watch a game where you have no idea what's going to happen in that final minute. As for Joe Burrow, still confident after the game as much as he wanted to have another crack at the Super Bowl as well.

I feel great about the direction that we're headed. That's the great thing about the NFL. It's not college where you've only got four years. You've got as many years as you want to hopefully. So we'll come back, have a great offseason and get better as a team.

Get better individually and come back next year ready to go. The most emotion that you saw from the Bengals was from Joseph Asai. So not only did he sit on the bench and have to wait until the Butler field goal went through. Once he finally got up from where he'd hit Patrick Mahomes out of bounds. But then he's so overcome by emotion that he doesn't get up and go across field and greet anyone.

Which I'm not criticizing him for that. But his teammates are all doing what you do after a game. They're out on the field, they're talking, they're connecting with people that they know. He's on the bench. He pulls his, I think it was like a neck warmer, pulls it up over his face and he buries his helmet in his hands.

And he's clearly overcome by tears. So one of his teammates comes over and sits with him and tries to encourage him. Finally gets him to get up. Finally gets him, come on man, we gotta go, we gotta go.

Tried for a couple of minutes before Joseph would get up. And in the locker room, I appreciate the fact that Asai answered questions. And one of the things he said is I appreciate my teammates.

I'm finding peace now because they're not blaming this on me. Because they're picking me up, because they're encouraging me. But he also had to answer the question of what happened. Why did you hit him so late? I was just in full chase mode and I was trying to push him to maybe get him going backwards. Because I knew he was going for that sideline, I was trying to make him go backwards, get that clock running. But I didn't know, I haven't seen it yet, I didn't know how far out of bounds we were. He said he essentially lost track of where he was on the field.

And I get it, it was a mistake. It's not why the Bengals lost, it just happened at the worst possible time. But there were missed opportunities for both these teams. Each of these teams would have had plenty of moments to look back on and go, no! Man, we had it, or we could have done it differently there.

I mean, that's the beauty of two teams that are so evenly matched. Like for instance, if Travis Kelce's weird attempt at a lateral gets intercepted and goes the other way for a touchdown. What was he doing? What was he doing? And then he thought about it, you could see it cross his face later in the game. He thought about doing it again. I was like, Travis, you are the most sure-handed receiver on the team, what are you doing?

That could have gone so horribly wrong, oh my gosh. Alright, so speaking of Travis Kelce, we didn't hear any trash talking from the Chiefs. We didn't hear them respond to Burrowhead or any of the other things that were happening. They just kind of played their cards real close to the vest, but you had to know that it was eating them up. That they were fuming over their stadium, which is one of the loudest in the NFL, one of the toughest places for visiting teams to play. That it was being labeled Burrowhead. Oh, so they finally got their chance to talk after the game.

And the first one we'll let you hear is Patrick Mahomes getting interviewed by Tracy Wolfson on CBS. I just want to thank God, man. Hey, I got some wise words for that Cincinnati Mayor. Know your role and shut your mouth, you jabroni.

You gotta fight for your right to party! I got a wack job. You know, I tell you guys this all the time, my motto in life is find people who are your kind of crazy. I mean, he's certifiable, but totally my kind of crazy. Anyway, he and his brother will become the first players who are siblings to face each other on the field. We've seen coaches do it before, but it's called the Kelce Bowl now. If they're going to do their podcast this week, I'm all in. Give me the Kelce Kelce podcast. I think they have to.

Yeah, they absolutely have to. Anyway, so that's Travis Kelce. First on the field, interrupting Patrick Mahomes when he's talking about God. And then Kelce's like... And then he's on the stage and he delivers his zinger to the mayor who made that awkward tweet earlier in the week. You jabroni!

I had to Google jabroni because I didn't really understand it. Anyway, that wasn't it. There were others who felt the need to express themselves.

Both Frank Clark and Chris Jones had monster games. They were using the NFL network as their outlet. We did it.

You know what I mean? We had to come back out here. You know, last year they signed. Same team sent this home, man.

You know, very disappointing season. I don't know who the hell they think they was calling this burlhead. I don't know who the hell they thought they was talking about they was going to finish us off. They'll take their bum ass back to Cincinnati. Man, they came to Cheesecake and got their ass thumped off.

I don't know what number one did. I told him to holler at me. I don't know what they been. I told them all to holler at me. I told them last year they didn't get my best. I told them this year they barely got my best. I told them at the playoffs though, I'm the f***ing king. They got to holler at me every f***ing game.

Let's go. Tell y'all something. Don't ever.

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Learn more at Goalie.com today. Wait, okay, I just heard this for the first time. Do you hear what's playing behind them? What the fans are doing behind him? Okay, so that was Chris Jones, who, by the way, two sacks, three tackles for loss, and five hits on Joe Burrow.

He was essentially unblockable in this game. Behind him, as he's talking, I think it was to Tom Pelissero, as he's talking to the reporter on NFL Network, do you hear what the fans are singing behind him? Tell y'all something, don't ever, ever, ever, and I'm looking at the camera when I say this, don't ever disrespect Arrowhead. I don't care how many times you done beat us. Don't ever disrespect Arrowhead Stadium. I mean, you stepped in it, Mike Hilton. The Cincinnati Bengals fans stepped in it.

I just don't know why you would bother. Now, Hilton didn't say it publicly, but he got caught on camera, right on NFL Films, saying Burrowhead or something along those lines, and the fans picked it up. The Chiefs didn't say anything all week, but according to both Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, they were listening.

They were listening keenly. Our guys did a great job of not going that direction. You know, their mayor, their mayor said it all.

And, you know, so I'm glad our mayor just did what he did. And so, yeah, some people heard it. Yeah, I think guys were probably the most pumped up I've seen them going into a football game. A lot of trash talk coming from a lot of different places. I think no one picked us to win.

If so, it was like five percent of people. And we think we've built up enough respect to have a chance to go out and win every game. So whenever you feel like you're the underdog, when you're playing at Arrowhead Stadium, it gets guys ready to go.

You got Burrowhead. I mean, they beat us last time. They were talking about we got to play them. There was a lot of stuff. I mean, the mayor came at me, man. I mean, I understand he's the mayor of Cincinnati. So you have to think about something.

But I mean, it's it's something that you just got to play the football game and then let your play do the talking. They saved it all. I mean, they stored it up and they saved it all.

Can you imagine what that locker room was like last week? Well, they're don't you dare. Nobody say a word publicly. Just wait, just wait.

But if you can walk the walk, then you get the privilege of talking the talk. All right. Coming up, there was another game, obviously completely different feel. Uh, the Niners onto their fourth quarterback, the Eagles dominating with the run game. Also, Damar Hamlin speaking on video for the first time since his cardiac arrest.

So we'll cram all that in its after hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. The San Francisco 49ers. The Philadelphia Eagles. First to 10 49ers. Johnson is throwing. He fumbles the snap, goes down and gets it.

That could have been a disaster. I think he got it. Now the Eagles say they have. Let's see. I thought Johnson was on top of it, but then Marcus is more very comfortable that the Eagles have the football.

They do. Oh, boy. They go to Scott tries to sweep. He's at the five. He pushes forward. He is in for the touchdown, Boston Scott. Hurts again under center. He shakes.

He pushes and he is. Touchdown Jalen hurts. I'm going to say this. The Eagles are 15 minutes and 43 seconds away from the Super Bowl. Pretty awesome. Uh, this is something you dream about your whole life. And like I said to the guys, whether you we've all been dreaming about it, whether you were dreaming about it when you were 2 10 14 18 or when you got in the NFL, it's something we all dream about. And we get to do it because, you know, we did it better than anybody else in the NFC this year. So that is pretty special.

This is after hours with Amy Lawrence. Nick Sirianni, second year as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. They were a surprise wild card team his first year as a head coach. And now look at the Super Bowl and the idea that they only won this game because the Niners lost Brock Purdy and then Josh Johnson and were so one dimensional late they couldn't throw the ball. That whole idea that the Eagles wouldn't have won this game against the Niners that they were full strength is is dumb. The Eagles have been the best team in the NFL since the beginning.

I know they were without Jalen for a couple of games, but he was an MVP candidate. That offensive line is a beast, a collective monster, four more rushing touchdowns at 120 yards before they even got to the fourth quarter, plus 15 time of possession. And yes, the Niners were unable to really extend drive. So I get it.

It dovetails. But the Eagles dominated and likely would have dominated. Maybe not this much, but still that run game is powerful. And San Francisco was dealing with penalties, bad penalties on their defense. So they ended up giving 81 yards away in penalties. The Philly defense had three sacks, three takeaways.

And obviously the moment that Hassan Redick was able to clobber the right arm of Brock Purdy and kind of bend it backward and it led to an elbow injury. Meryl Reese and Mike Quick on Eagles radio as they're headed to their fourth Super Bowl in franchise history. It would be their second since the 16 season. Of course, that was the Nick Foles Super Bowl MVP, the Philly Philly against the Patriots, their first Super Bowl win in franchise history. But they did go to the game when Andy Reid was their coach back in the 04 season.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. So yeah, the Eagles will have a lot of time to talk. We'll hear more from them, but I know people want to hear from Brock Purdy because after he got hit, he tried. He tried to get back in. He was working on it, standing on the sidelines. Ultimately was only able to come in and hand the ball off, but he was devastated.

I don't think he took his helmet off the rest of the game. I've been throwing after the hit occurred on the sideline just to see where I was at. But even in those throws, it was painful. And so I couldn't throw anything probably over 10 yards, five yards. So that's why we just had some screens.

Those really early option when I went back in. I'm just so sad for the older guys, Fred, Trent, George, Eric Armset, everyone, all the guys that have been through this. They obviously had been in the Super Bowl in 19 and then last year in the NFC championship. And then for this to happen, it's in the first drive really of, man, like this is the kind of game we have to play after the first drive. And I'm just, I'm just frustrated. He ain't got nothing to be sad about, you know, he's the one, he's the reason we even got to this game when Jimmy went down against the dolphins. Like we didn't know what our season was going to be, you know, he came in and did a heck of a job. He's the reason we're here right now, man. I love that from Fred Warner.

I cannot emphasize enough how much that leadership speaks to me. Yeah, he's devastated. Yeah, they've had some near misses and he's probably torn up about it, but in that moment he picks up the rookie. He has nothing to be sad about.

He's the reason we're even here. Couple more Christian McCaffrey, nine consecutive games in which he scored a touchdown, but ultimately falling short. There's a lot of emotions that come at you at once. I think obviously it's disappointing and we wanted to be playing and have a shot to play in the Super Bowl. But at the same time, I'm unbelievably grateful for the way this team took me in in the middle of the year. Feels like a family in there from the coaches and the ownership to the, to the players. And I'm grateful for everyone in that locker room. Man, how things change when Christian McCaffrey was traded from the Panthers and yes, it coincided a similarly timeline with Jimmy Garoppolo's injury, but he was definitely their best option moving forward. So a lot more to talk about. We'll of course get the exit interviews for both the Niners as well as the Bengals.

Just like every other team that comes short but doesn't get through, it's always painful and then you kind of move on and you focus on next season. But before we hit the top of the hour, I hope you all saw it. If you didn't, it's on my Twitter. I retweeted it not that long ago, ALawRadio. DeMar Hamlin sat down and did a lengthy, a lengthy thank you, a lengthy interview of sorts on tape and the Bills interspersed it with video. And so it's really worth watching.

Again, the Bills have it. I tweeted it. This is just a snippet of his message to the fans. Well, I'm so thankful to everybody. I know that it isn't enough just to be thankful. This is just the beginning of the impact that I wanted to have on the world. And with God's guidance, I will continue to do wonderful and great things. I couldn't do this without any of the support and the love. And I can't wait to continue to take you all on this journey with me.

All right, I'll retweet it again just so you can find it. I watched the whole thing. I got a little teary in places, but I also smiled a ton. Again, there's lots of video from a medical center, from his teammates. And he said he waited on purpose until he felt like he was comfortable enough to really say thank you to everyone who was part of this, but also because it's been overwhelming, as you can imagine, going from cardiac arrest to putting this video together in under a month.

He smiles. He flashes now what is his signature heart sign. It's a really special message. And the Bills put together an incredible video. It was heartwarming. Definitely watch and listen because you will smile as well. Also, his Chasing M's Foundation is that fund is now up over $9 million.

So he has a lot of toys to buy. All right, we've got Eagles and Chiefs headed to the Super Bowl. We'll talk more about it tonight after hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio. This show is sponsored by better help. 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 better help.com slash positive. This show is sponsored by better help. 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. This show is sponsored by better help.

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.