Jalen Hurts Dazzles In Loss (Hour 2)

Our number two of our radio program Zach Gelb show day after the Super Bowl on CBS Sports Radio. We've all made a safe back to New York City after what was a tremendous week out in the desert with all the parties, waste management, the game obviously last night as the Kansas City Chiefs do find a way to take down the Philadelphia Eagles at a classic game 38 to 35 and you could have a classic game but also be disappointed at the end because yes the Eagles offensive line was not where it normally is at and the run game did not really perform well outside of Jalen Hurts last night and I thought the play calling did get a conservative but still the Eagles were able to put up 35 points and what has usually been a great Eagles defense was the farthest thing from it last night as Patrick Mahomes did not get sacked once in the game but with how awesome that game was and how I really didn't have any complaints through the first 58 minutes the final two minutes it leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth not because of who won the game and who lost the game just how it did come to a close with the officiating call of a hold I thought that it wasn't something that was being called that way I'm all about consistency and it was inconsistent then with it being not called for most of the game in the final two minutes the rest do make it about themselves I agree with Greg Olsen where I thought that it was very incidental it should not have been called in the moment last night and I know that it's not on if the ball is catchable or not but I don't think that held really did impact the play whatsoever so I vehemently disagree with the decision to throw the flag but outside of that we had what was a wonderful Super Bowl and you once again get Patrick Mahomes winning a Super Bowl MVP was it his greatest game that I've ever seen him play no he only had 180 something points passing yards but on one ankle and the fact that he only had one incompletion in the second half it was a phenomenal performance by Kansas City and here's the other thing that we didn't talk about and I've been asking this all year long in the postseason if they were down big because we've seen these kind of scripts by Kansas City where in playoff games they go down big and they find a way to come back and find a way to prevail and go out on top I was wondering if they went there down big in the postseason if this was going to be the time all throughout the year I wasn't concerned about the regular season where they would miss Tyree kill because how quickly they could take a deep shot and get him back into the end zone and quickly put a really a little bit of a hole into the deficit of what the lead is and narrow that gap a little bit all throughout the year it's crazy to lose a player like Tyree kill in the biggest moment last night was anyone saying oh wow the Chiefs really needed Tyree kill to go win that game absolutely not and you see what is the diversity of the weapons which is nothing spectacular outside of Travis Kelce like Juju Smith-Shuster solid receiver Marcos Valdes-Scantling okay wide receiver but then you see guys like McKinnon and Pacheco and Sky Moore Caderius Toney it's not like those guys really dominate you know Pacheco's good back I think he has a good future ahead of him coming out of Rutgers but to win this Super Bowl this one is a lot more impressive than the first one now this is like ranking what's your favorite child so it's like always like a stupid conversation don't get me wrong the the first Super Bowl Mahomes played like garbage for the first three quarters then he woke up in the fourth quarter up against San Francisco but you look at the totality of the story in this one in the season in this one what happened in the first one pales in comparison to what happened in this season because they lost Tyree kill and that was like an unstoppable force Tyree kill Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes and take Hill out of the lineup with him now going to Miami and people thinking you're vulnerable with the the crap and the nonsense that we got fed about the Broncos and the Raiders and right the charges right there for the for the taking you know to try to usurp a team like Kansas City and then you had Josh Allen I know Joe Burrow is a heck of a quarterback and beat Mahomes three straight times but they lost this time around with how much we heard about the depth of this conference the Chiefs finally taking a hit back it shows you as long as you have 15 and I know Travis Kelce had a touchdown early on but yeah as long as you have 1587 and mainly 15 as long as he stays healthy and I know he's playing on one ankle as long as he's able to be on the field you're always gonna have a shot to win a game doesn't matter how how large of a hole that you fall into right out of the gate far the biggest win of his career easily incredible you know you've turned into what Mahomes biggest biggest win of his career guy he said AFC title game didn't you two weeks ago yeah it was was it not and this win no I don't think the AFC title game was and we talked about this last week as as impressive as it was the what he was able to do in the second quarter up against the Texans with around 24 nothing to make it all back in that quarter I thought that one was more impressive also being on the verge of getting knocked out last year in that AFC divisional round game and getting the ball down the field in 13 seconds I thought that was more impressive than the AFC title game talking two weeks ago and then the Super Bowl I thought Carrington Harrison made a great point where they were down 10 points with I think it was eight seven and a half to play and to come back from that I thought it was more impressive than what we saw two weeks ago which is phenomenal it's remarkable what he did two weeks ago I just thought those moments were more impressive now if you want to it's not even the individual game last night but this season was the most and it's not the best statistical season necessarily Mahomes his career it's not the most touchdown pass he's thrown for but when you take away a weapon like Tyree kill this was the most impressed I've been out of Mahomes out of any individual season just with how it's kind of like weird to say like skill position by committee outside of outside of Travis Kelsey was just how many different guys that they plugged and played and relied on throughout the year and that's what great quarterbacks do right we saw it with Brady for so many years not the most talent you know yeah sure you get a Randy Moss sure you get a Rob Gronkowski but then there was years where look what Brady did with receivers that were like nothing really that that you write home about so that to me is what makes this one the most impressive season that's the way I'll say it of Mahomes his career anyway five questions five answers how we're going to join us coming up at 7 20 p.m. Eastern the Eagles sideline reporter but let's get to a little onsides offside hit it let's continue to talk about Zach Patrick Holmes because he added and continues to add to arguably the greatest start of any NFL player we maybe we've ever seen he captured his second Super Bowl and second Super Bowl MVP award this past week so in five years as it started we look at my homes his career in totality he now has two rings to MVP awards to Super Bowl MVPs three Super Bowl appearances five AFC title game appearances on sides are offside Zach Patrick Holmes has gotten off to the greatest start of any NFL player ever so it's not the most Super Bowl victories because right Brady had three in his first five years of his career but when you look at the totality of it so the individual performance of the regular season the performances in the postseason the rings the MVPs the Super Bowl MVPs yeah I would say that's the the greatest start to a career that we've seen out of any NFL player in the modern era onsides unfortunately a great Super Bowl did end in controversy with officiating yet again as Eagles defensive back James Bradbury was flagged for defensive holding on third down they gave the Chiefs a first down late with less than two minutes ago allowed the Chiefs to salt down the clock eventually kicking the game-winning field goal with just eight seconds left now after the game Bradbury the man who was flagged admitted that he did hold Juju Smith Schuster and that the refs made the right call onsides or offside Zach the referees got the call right the referees did not get this call right it's very simple I look for consistency earlier in the game they didn't call holding later in the game they do call holding it was worse earlier in the game I thought this is very ticky tacky I think if you show this to ten officials I would think maybe seven would say we're not gonna call it maybe three at most that could be benevolent would say they would call it unfortunately one of the officials on the field last night elected to call that there's no way the refs got that one right they should have kicked the field goal Eagles should have got the ball back with under two minutes ago and then who knows how the game would have been played out I it was too ticky tacky for me I did not really think that there was anything egregious I like what Greg Olson said right away he had his hands on his back it was very incidental in my opinion so therefore in that spot since it wasn't called earlier and all I look for is consistency because we never know how roughing the passer's gonna get called pass interference is gonna get called what is the catch what isn't a catch you just have no clue anymore I just want some consistency the way that it's getting called throughout the game we did not get that in the final two minutes so that's my biggest reason why the rest got that one wrong last night you asked me the rest got it right absolutely not offside both quarterbacks yesterday were sensational Jalen Hurts was surgical going 27 to 38 for 304 passing yards he also added in 70 rushing yards and totaled four touchdowns on the other end Patrick Holmes who did not have the ball a lot did make the most of it when 21 to 27 182 yards three passing touchdowns also added in 44 rushing yards as well the 35 points the Eagles scored with the most by a losing team in Super Bowl history onsides or offsides Jalen Hurts outplayed Patrick Mahomes is supposed to be a trick question just wondering no because I think Jalen Hurts outplayed Patrick Mahomes last night yeah I agree I just I'm just asking because he had the three rushing touchdowns 70 yards he threw for 100 I know that he gave a touchdown up and you had a penalty right before that and then I didn't like the approach anyway on that third and six but yeah other than that one mistake Jalen Hurts was pretty much flawless in the game and I look at performances that did not result in a championship and like the modern era I talk about two we talk about Larry Fitzgerald entire postseason where he put up numbers in that postseason that receivers dream of putting up in an individual season did not end in a title when Santoni Holmes made that catch up against the Arizona Cardinals TO in Super Bowl 39 on one leg was remarkable what Jalen Hurts did last night was one of the greatest big game performances in an individual game that you will see that did not result in a championship because if I would have told you before the game last night that Hurts would run for three touchdowns and throw for one throw for 300 yards have 70 yards on the ground the Eagles will put up 35 points in the game you would have said how many points did they win the game by and they ended up losing the game by three not exactly the same thing but you know what it reminds me a lot like and that's why I made the comparison to Super Bowl 52 earlier like when Brady threw now Brady doesn't run the ball but when Brady threw for 505 yards in that Super Bowl and lost the game and he made one mistake it was a strip sack. Hurts made one mistake like that's not the reason why they lost the game but it was very similar how the Patriots lost in Super Bowl 52 it kind of felt similar in the way that the Eagles lost so you see the time possession you see the yards the Eagles should have won that game last night but they didn't and sometimes you just got to tip your cap to that Chiefs offense and also you got to give credit to the way that they just exposed that defense and Andy Reid and Eric B enemy I know you could talk about the turf but he had multiple guys just contributing that offensive line I thought was the biggest difference in the game as well along with Andy Reid so yeah Jalen Hurts outplayed Mahomes last night onsides. They did not allow a sack they also got the running game going averaging 6.1 yards per carry as it did out rush the Eagles in this one yesterday onsides or offsides Zach you were more impressed with the Chiefs offensive line than you were disappointed with the Eagles defensive line.

So these questions are always tricky because if you answer one way it makes it seems like you weren't actually that impressed with something or that disappointed with the other thing. Like for example I'm going to answer this saying I was more disappointed with the Eagles offensive line. This does not mean that I'm sitting here saying oh yeah I wasn't impressed with the Chiefs offensive line I was. But when you have a team and this is very simple have 70 sacks in the regular season and they don't get one in the Super Bowl I know it's easy to say oh you got to give credit to the Chiefs offensive line. But to me that's still more disappointing because if you would have told me before the game the Eagles would have had zero sacks in the game I probably would have laughed at you.

So I'm answering this question offside because I was more disappointed than the Eagles defensive line. And finally Andy Reid continued to add to his legacy last night as Reid won his second Super Bowl becoming just the 13th head coach to win multiple rings. He's now fifth all-time in wins second in postseason wins and has appeared in 10 conference championship games. There was some reports from Jay Glazer before the game that maybe Andy Reid would consider retiring after the season. This is a yearly tradition now by Jay Glazer. Aaron Donnell last year, Andy Reid this year and neither ended up doing so. 0 for 2 as Reid did say after the game he's not going anywhere does not plan on retiring. So you think he has a chance to add now to his legacy going forward.

Onsides are offside Zach. Andy Reid when it's all said and done will be a top five coach in NFL history. Yeah because he's done it in two spots. I know he didn't win a championship with the Eagles but he kind of changed the direction of that franchise. Got the five NFC title games got to one Super Bowl and now in Kansas City he's won two Super Bowls and if he coaches another five years I got to think he's going to get at least one more.

So you have all the wins in Philly and then what he's doing in Kansas City and now you have two championships. It's kind of crazy because we grew up thinking Andy Reid as an Eagle. In 10 years like when we're looking back at his career you're going to think of the Chiefs first. You think of the Chiefs right now first but there's going to be like if you're I don't know 10 or 15 right now. You know Andy Reid is the head football coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. So and Hickey and I were not ancient. We're not decrepit right.

Hopefully our time is nowhere close to being up. But Andy Reid will be a top five coach of all time. Two different spots tremendous amount of success. And now he's won multiple Super Bowls and probably will win another one if he coaches another five years. Yeah he'll be a top five coach in NFL history on sides. We will take a break when we come on back we will go to a man that was on the sideline for the game last night on the Eagles radio network. We'll get his reaction the legendary Howard Eskin joins us next. Betting 101 increasing one's bankroll take two hundred dollars deposited at U.S. Watch it grow to four hundred and fifty dollars.

Now that is science. Sign up today at BetU.S.com or call 1-800-79-BET-U.S. Be like me. Bet for free. You're listening to the Zach Gelb show. It's a very low bar but I'll say this when we're out in Phoenix for the Super Bowl. When I was walking around that media center I thought the best dressed man all throughout the week was Howard Eskin. And then he just took it to a different level on Super Bowl Sunday and the legendary sports talker on sports radio 94 WIP.

And also does the eagle sideline for many years it was on the sideline last night is kind enough to join us right now. Howard Eskin how you been. I've never had a bad day in my life just another great day. It was a bad bad moments last night for the Eagles but you know you can't let it just ruin your whole day.

But I'm doing I'm doing great. What was your biggest takeaway from last night. Can't make mistakes and you can't make mistakes in a big game.

So it's compounded. You can make mistakes against bad teams and there was a lot of teams in the NFL this this year that were bad teams. You can make mistakes and get away with it. You can't make mistakes against a good team.

And Kansas City was the best team in the AFC. And you can't make mistakes against the fumbles a mistake. The punt return is a mistake. The big punt return which led obviously to a score. The two blown coverages on defense were mistakes on defense.

So you just can't make mistakes. And that's my takeaway from the game. You know you're up by the Eagles are only I think only the second team in Super Bowl history that had a 10 point lead or more and lost the game at halftime.

The Falcons obviously. Yeah. Yeah. And then Kyle Shanahan screwed that up. But I'll never I'll never forget how he screwed that up. But nonetheless. So that's my takeaway.

You can't make mistakes. And it's not just you know I know that the media just loves to focus on one thing. All the penalty against James Bradbury at the end or near the end of the game. But even he admitted that you know by the letter of the law that's a penalty now at some insignificant game. May they not call the officials may not call that. But there's so many cameras on things. There's so many things going on.

Yeah. It could have gone either way. But when you know when the defender admits that it was a penalty and you know he owned it. So but the media is great.

They just love to focus on that. Well and that doesn't mean the Eagles would have won the game. But there's players on the team obviously that believe they would have gotten about with about a minute and 20 left and maybe could have at least tied the game. So whatever the case may be I'm not focusing on on that play could have gone either way but it could have been a penalty too. So you can't say the official was wrong.

So that's pretty much my takeaways. Obviously hurts played really really really well. My home is just unbelievable. He's just so so good. Andy Reid proved again he's the best coach in the National Football League. He's but I don't even it's not even a thought that he's better than Bill Belichick.

It's not even a thought that he's better than him. So you know you kind of look at a lot of different things but it's not one mix Ariane said it last night after the game. It's not just one thing. If you lose the game it's not just one thing.

So it's multiple things. Well Howard let me just go to the defense here. I know that the field was not good last night and it was it was a joke.

But a team that had 70 sacks beef beef in the regular season that zero last night the big game like that stunned me. That's not the field. Let me tell you they did some work. I talked to some people there and I mentioned it on our Eagles radio broadcast last night. They worked on that field all week. Normally that field goes outside to get sun and then they roll it back in. That's the way that field at that stadium works. They kept it indoors for the last four days and they hardened it up. It wasn't as the Eagles played there earlier in the year.

Then it was a joke. It was too soft. I didn't see it was guy slipping but I don't know what the reason for that was.

But earlier you lost traction because the sand base underneath was coming up. So I'm not going to blame it on the field. Here's what I'm going to tell you about the sacks and Jonathan Gannon the defensive coordinator who interviewed today in Arizona.

And I don't know who's going to get that head coaching job might be him might be Mike Kafka or the guy from what is it Cincinnati. But whatever the case may be he's not big sacks don't don't move him. It's not about sacks. It's about pressures and they pressured my homes.

They pressured my homes. But he's so elusive even with even with an ankle that wasn't 100 percent. He's so good and so elusive. It doesn't make any difference. So are you going to get sacks. It's harder against that guy to get sacks much much harder. Now I vehemently disagree with you Howard asking just in terms of saying that Reid is better than than Belichick.

But I will say this. Last night I know MVP goes to the most valuable player. If I had to give it to a person if it was most valuable person it was Andy Reid because as much as I like Sirianni I thought he ran circles around the Eagles with the adjustments they made at halftime. Well the players got to make plays too. So and he was out there's no question that Sirianni was out coached and but the players didn't make plays the fumble the punt return the two blown coverages on defense.

So when you look at that actually one of them was the play call on defense you maybe can lean a little bit to the defensive coordinator. But but regardless of all that what is Bella cheat done since Tom Brady's left losing record. Did you notice I made the playoffs one year. Did he have. Does he have a losing record since Brady left.

Sure. But what did what is Andy Reid done before Patrick Mahomes. He had five conference championships with the Eagles. Now I didn't have Tom Brady as his quarterback.

Okay. But when he had Mahomes he did lose to Brady and Belichick. But that's what you're talking about one game. I mean it's just he lost to better teams. He lost to be lost to Brady. He lost he lost to Tom Brady and McNabb through three interceptions that game too by the way.

So so balancing doesn't get credit for that. Well no players make play. Donald McNabb did not play his best game in that Super Bowl. Bill Belichick or Bella cheat as he should be known is not a better coach than Andy Reid. Okay Mahomes makes the quarterback the team look better.

But he did it. Andy Reid did it with Donald McNabb who's the best quarterback in Eagles history. But he's nothing close to the what the way Brady played in those years. Nothing close and they played in the worst division in football for what 15 years. So they always had a bye. They always had home field.

They always had an advantage. And those Super Bowls that Brady is credited and your boy Bella cheats credited with winning two of those. The Patriots didn't win. Seattle lost that game by Russell. The play call was stupid. And Russell Wilson making a pass was stupid. And then they still won.

Okay. But the the other team lost the game. They coaches can lose games. And I know this Howard, I love you.

I don't hate I don't hate anybody. But I don't think I think he's a very good coach. But he's not the best in football. And without Tom Brady. He's just another coach. He's just another coach. What what are the Patriots doing now?

Is he resurrecting that team? He's by the way, he's the one that makes the personnel decisions too. They drafted three tight ends.

What was it a few years ago? And every one of every one of them are shifts. Every one of them. And Max Jones, I think is a mediocre quarterback. He's the one that makes those decisions too.

Just to break the news to you. So so what Andy Reid, I love Andy Reid, I think he's a phenomenal football coach. But two, three years takes away what Bella check did for the last 20.

I just explained to you that easy division, Tom Brady, Bella check is he's a really good coach. He got caught cheating. And who knows how much he got away with.

And that's another who much they didn't. They didn't quite they didn't catch him right away. And then you know, and he knew about Brady deflected the whole team cheated. Brady cheated. Bella cheat cheated. They all cheated. So and he didn't get caught until the end. So how many of those games did he win? Because he cheated.

We don't know that we don't have the answer to that. But I'm just just pointing it out. Just pointing it out. It just I'm just rolling out the factor. In Philadelphia, when one Howard asking was standing next to my myself, Merrill Reese and Peter King and you were saying that Montana is better than Brady and Peter King and Merrill Reese were vehemently disagreeing with these.

I just think there's a little little bias there by it's okay. Well, well, Brady's too, because Montana never lost a Super Bowl never threw an interception in the Super Bowl. Seven titles or four titles? Well, like I said, two of them the other coach, would you rather have seven or four?

Or would you rather go to ten or just go to four? Well, I well, basically Brady's 500 at Super Bowls. Come on, Howard.

And then what do you do with the giant ones? Did we just say all the sudden that the giant one with Tyree and Manningham that we that we count those as losses? No, no, because the Giants defense and that's another issue. Eli Manning should not have been Eli Manning should not have been the MVP in that game that when they were undefeated, he should not have been the MVP.

Somebody on that defensive line should have been the MVP. Okay. Well, let me let me ask you this. Just going back to the game last night, instead of dealing with your 20 years of hatred with the Patriots.

You went back 20 years. I just said, Andy, we was the best coaching football. Okay, so let me ask you this, though, the whole thing last night. I know you touched on it.

Here's my biggest problem with it. I just want consistency from the officials. And they were not consistent last night. Like, I didn't think to me that was egregious where it should have been. We should have been called.

There's so many cameras on it. I don't know whether it should have been called. Is it a penalty to some people?

Yes. To other people? No, it could have got there's no question it could could have gone either way. Hey, listen, I wanted to see the Eagles win. You know, it's better for everybody here in Philadelphia, but it could have gone.

It could have gone either way. But the officiating this year has not been that good. It's been average at best.

Yeah, average at best. So what are you going to do? I mean, it's just I don't know what you can do. And you can't challenge those calls. But he did grab it was it was a small it was a small penalty.

But he did grab his jersey. And on that situation, the officials got to react. Again, it could have gone either way. And if it went either way, there still be people complaining whatever way it went.

There would have been people complaining. So, but the officials this season, I don't know what the NFL can do about it. I don't know when you look at a lot of sports.

I don't know what a lot of sports can do. Well, Goodell says the officiating has been as good as ever. So they're not going to do anything about it. Well, what's he going to say? It's terrible.

It's the best he's ever seen. That's a little bit too much. I think we could all know when you're saying something just to say something like that was a little bit too over the top at that. How many how many coaches tell us the truth during their news conferences? None. Pretty much. A few.

Very few. Yeah. That's the way it is. That's that's what it is because the media blows blows things up. But whatever he says, he says because I mean, he's the commissioner of the league. He's just protecting the league. He doesn't he doesn't want that to be the issue of that game.

And in reality, it shouldn't be the issue. Good call or bad call. The Eagles made too many mistakes. You can't blame it on one play. Did you think the play calling in the second half got too conservative for Philadelphia?

No, I just don't think they made. Well, Kansas City just kept on scoring. So I you know, I didn't notice it and I didn't look back at the plays.

I didn't notice it got too conservative. They did some things. They threw the ball. They threw deep alive. Jalen Hurts threw deep alive.

So I don't know that it got too conservative. Again, they're just they didn't run the ball as well as they had. I think Miles Sanders was it wasn't his kind of game.

Seven carries. That to me, Howard, I think is a big takeaway from the game. Like, Hurts was phenomenal.

He was wonderful. We saw what he did on the ground through the air. I mean, we saw the game roll 21 yards. Sanders, 16 Boston Scott, eight like that. To me, we took the two stunning parts that the Eagles didn't get a sack and then the three running backs.

No one really had a good game out of the three. Well, Sanders went to the locker room in the first half and they never reported an injury and it wasn't serious enough to report it. But my understanding was he had a hand injury and I saw him flexing his hand on the sidelines a few times.

He's grabbing a football and gripping it hard to secure the football just to work on his hand. I don't think it's a severe injury. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't be able to play.

I didn't see any tape on it. That doesn't mean anything. But he did. There's no reason that he would have only gotten seven carries if everything was right. I didn't think Boston Scott was going to be a big part of the offense running because Gainwell has really played well over the last part of the season. He's really done a good job both catching the ball and running the football. So I'm not surprised that Sanders, I'm a little surprised they didn't run it as well as they have been running it. So there's a lot of different things, but I'm not shocked that no sacks because Mahomes is just so unbelievable.

I'll say this, Howard, too. This game, different outcome, obviously because the Eagles lost, but it reminded me a lot like Super Bowl LII minus the ending. You know, Super Bowl LII was just, but the whole game had offense. I see 35, 38, and 35, and that was 41-33.

But it was just back and forth. This game, I didn't look at it the same way. Maybe because the Eagles were surprised to win in Super Bowl LII and everybody in Philadelphia expected them to win this game. The offense at times, like, Kansas City didn't really do well. But the first half, that was 22-12 that first half back in Super Bowl LII.

Yes, but this Super Bowl, seven of those 14 points were scored on a fumble, a defensive touchdown. So by the way, if somebody bet that, that would have been it. It would have won a lot of money.

I just thought about that. That was a big price on a defensive touchdown for a score. It was a big price.

But, you know, anybody that bets is just taking a shot because he's betting 25 prop bets. It is kind of crazy what goes on with that stuff. Howard, we appreciate it. Thanks so much. All right. Take care, Zach.

You got it. There's Howard Eskin, who we know is the biggest Andy Reid fan in the world and the biggest hater of Bill Belichick. That's why I appreciate Howard. Because no matter what it is, it always somehow goes back to Bernie and Belichick.

But, hey, it is what it is. How many times did Andy Reid lose a big game to Belichick? But now all of a sudden, Andy Reid's better than Belichick.

I couldn't take that. You're listening to The Zach Gelb Show. And it's Zach Gelb Show on CBS Sports Radio. Just giving you a few more thoughts, obviously, about a Super Bowl 57. After last night, if you were skeptical heading into the game, I don't know how you could still have any hesitance about Jalen Hurts. What I saw from Hurts last night, even though the Eagles lost, once again just reassures that he's a franchise quarterback.

Because that's the biggest stage there is. And I know you could talk about the fumble, and that was inexcusable. But he was the reason why the Eagles had the big lead. And he was the reason, even when momentum started to shift, why they were able to go out there and tie back up the game. Like, Hickey, if you look at the two-point conversion play, I still don't know how he got into the end zone. Because there's three or four Chiefs defenders that are around him, and he's clearly two yards out. And I know they're running down the field before you cut back up and in, but he muscled his way into the end zone. And this was not like the QB sneak where you're short and then you just get pushed over the line. That was him on his own going through three or four defenders, it looked like. You see those powerlifting skills come to use in a perfect way there. That was literally just him on two or three Chiefs navigating his way through the parting Red Sea.

Crazy. And I define, everyone has their own definition for a franchise quarterback. I have two, and just two things I look for. If it's third down, and I don't care what the distance is, third and one or third and 15, doesn't matter to me. If you're a franchise quarterback, there's no doubt about it in my mind that you're getting the third down conversion.

That's something I've said for years. The other part is, when you face adversity, how do you respond to it? And last night, the Eagles were phenomenal on third down. But when you look at the two moments where this game could have really got ugly, or momentum was starting to shift, you saw right after the hurts fumble, which was his fault, bounce back, answer back with a touchdown. Then, after Kansas City didn't have to lead the entire game, not only takes the lead but then tacks on another score, and they go up by eight, he leads them down the field, has that big throw to Devante Smith, and then runs it in once again for his third rushing touchdown. Those two moments, if you, like I know if you're an Eagles fan, today sucks, today's miserable, because I don't want to hear, oh this was a surprise, oh you didn't expect to be here before the start of the season.

When you get to these moments, you have to capitalize, you have to pounce. Because you never know when you're going to get back. But if you can take I guess one positive from the loss, it's that you know Jalen Hurts is a franchise quarterback. When he got drafted, it was insurance because you didn't know if once he was going to be able to be healthy. Last year, he was solid, but in the playoff game he was horrible.

I know it helps when you go bring in an A.J. Brown, you have year number two of Devante Smith, but find me any quarterback that wins on his own. You have to have a good team. And Jalen Hurts this year, we always know where the leadership has been. But he has elevated his game so much, and he took advantage of the opportunities that were there. And I look back at that game last night, I know I could talk about the holding call at the end, I know I could talk about the play calling being conservative, and also like the fumble, the one mistake that Hurts made. But the reason why the Eagles lost the game, and I know you got to tip your cap to Andy Reid when you say this, you got to tip your cap to Mahomes, they're run game two, but that Eagles defense let them down. That Eagles defense, right, the first two games of the playoffs, the offense didn't play great, but the defense was so dominant. And in the biggest spot, on the biggest stage, that defense that has been great all year long, and was starting to get more and more national recognition, it folded. It failed them. Because you look at the time of possession, you look at the yards, this should have been an Eagles victory.

But it wasn't. And when you go up against a great coach and a great quarterback, there's times where you're watching a game, and I'm not saying the wrong team won necessarily, but you're watching a game and you have a feel of who's going to win. And for most of that game, I thought the Eagles were going to win.

I did. And it just shows you when you have 15, you have Reid as well, there's sometimes things don't really make sense. And that was one of those moments last night, Hickey, where it just shows you still, even without Tyreek Hill, how tough it is, and Mahomes on one leg, how tough it is to beat Kansas City. And I said that in the summer, right? People were like saying, oh, the Chiefs are going to fall off.

And I get it. I didn't even pick them to win the division this year. But when we were given a few words at each team, I said Kansas City was going to be a really tough out. Because if you give them a chance and you have them on the ropes and you don't knock them out, 9.9 times out of 10, they're like a snake in the grass and they come back up to bite you and they end up winning.

Right when you least expect it. And that's why this loss is going to hurt Eagles, fans, players for a while because, look, Jalen Hurts is going to get paid. And he's going to get paid a lot of money, deservingly so this offseason.

And that's the nature of the beast. And you see now, that means that that team is going to get worse. Like this was, you could make an argument, maybe the best team that Jalen Hurts will ever have around him in terms of 1-53. Because look at the other side, Mahomes got paid a ton. And you see some errors in the defense where you have two rookies in the secondary playing. So Kansas City, the receivers are not great.

You've had to trade away one of the best receivers in an entire kill because you couldn't afford them. This was a chance when Jalen Hurts was making less than $2 million cap hit. That you could have really, and they did do a great job building the team. It's one of those where you're going to look back because this team was so great everywhere.

You really needed to win this one. But now I have no concerns about Hurts. And I'd rather be in that spot where you have to pay the quarterback and you actually believe in the quarterback. Compared to how many guys, Hickey, that get paid and were like, yeah, I'm not sure. But just tough that the team was great. You probably should have won it and you're not going to be as good of a team again. You're not wrong on that, but that's when you once again expect your franchise quarterback to elevate, step up to the plate, and deliver even more than he delivered this past year. And that's saying something. The News Brief next, back in five, Zach Gelb shows CBS Sports Radio.