Original subtitles

Big changes in Atlanta.

Some say they saw it coming. It is massive news, seismic news. Kirk Cousins

been benched by the Atlanta Falcons.

They were not going anywhere with that version of Kirk Cousins, so it was worth

taking a swig.

Kirk Cousins' time with Atlanta is likely done.

One of the strangest situations we've seen with a veteran quarterback.

Raheem called Tuesday evening and just said he wanted to connect. So I went in

to see him, and he told me they were going to make a change.

And so that was that. And it didn't need to be a long

conversation. The ball was in my hands.

And I just hadn't played at the standard that I expected of myself,

that he expected of me.

And in pro football, that's just the way it's going to go.

I think any time you don't deliver, it hurts.

And it hurts you. It hurts when you factor in the other people that it

But you just want to deliver.

And when you don't, it hurts.

So I have to hold on to hope that there's more to the story,

that there's more up ahead, that there's purpose

in it.

And you just kind of hold on to that because you don't know what's

coming.

And so it's just going to be interesting to kind of see where it all goes.

But I think that's been my football journey for almost 20 years, where you

never can tell where things are going to go until you're able to look back and

kind of see it with the benefit of hindsight.

No one loves the Christmas puzzle more than me.

I got a two -pack.

And I finished this one.

My kids are old enough now to, like, play amongst themselves, do their own

project, and then I can kind of sit here with everybody while working on it.

Great therapy, I figured out.

It's been quite a week.

I don't, I usually pride myself on not riding the roller coaster of the NFL

season. But I think this week got the best of me.

This month got the best of me, really. I think the tough times kind of started

at the beginning of December, in my opinion, from my perspective.

But Tuesday, after the Monday night football game, I was reading

Twitter.

And so I was seeing a lot of the Bench Kirk tweets.

And I just...

I didn't want to tell him, hey, this is all over Twitter.

But I did ask him, like, what do you think? Do you think they might do that

you today or tomorrow?

And he's like, I don't know, we'll see.

And so it just kind of felt like it was looming.

I was wrapping Christmas presents on Tuesday, and I saw his phone. He didn't

have his phone. I saw it lighting up in his office, and it was Raheem.

And it was like 7 .30 at night, and so I said, Raheem called you.

And he knew what that meant, and so did I.

He was gone for about an hour, and that was a really sad time.

My kids were playing, and I was crying. And they're like, what's wrong?

And trying to explain it to them. They're like, is he not on the team

Just very somber.

And then he came back and sat in the garage.

When I went out there, he was actually calling Michael, which I thought was

really cool.

I was like, who does that?

Hey, hey.

How we doing?

You just drove home from one of the hardest conversations you've ever had,

you're going to call Michael to say the job is yours.

I mean, that brings tears to my eyes.

That is the kind of man he is.

Maybe we do too good

of a job at trying to keep our house upbeat and optimistic because both of

were not sad for a second.

It's complicated to say that he's not the starting quarterback anymore.

You know, Mr. Michael's going to be the quarterback now. Well, Turner thought,

well, surely he's not on the football team at all anymore.

He said, Dad, it's okay you're kicked off the team because now you can spend

more time with us playing football in the basement.

And I thought, yeah, he doesn't quite understand what we do here.

I'd always said I want to play long enough that my boys would be able to

understand what Daddy does.

And those comments.

reminded me. I may still need to play a little longer for them to truly

understand what that does.

Not really.

I don't like boats like that.

If you go on a boat,

You're committed. You're there for hours.

I like a boat for 45 minutes, but then after 45 minutes, I'm like, okay, I've

seen it all. We're on the water. I get it.

That's just what is fun about football.

You spend so much time together. You can't talk about football for 12 hours

every single day.

Did you go to the little Iguana Island?

Bro, at Turks, they got a whole island that nobody can have built. You can't

build on it. It's just for the iguanas. There's just tons of iguanas on it.

Not like the normal, like the Florida iguanas. They're called rock iguanas.

Not as big as the green ones.

No, those are, I believe those are frilled -necked lizards.

Yeah, those ones are venomous. You want to stay away from those. Those are in,

like, Australian shit.

Frilled neck lizards, I believe.

Season's about over, and I feel like I'm just freaking getting started, baby.

Take a look at the Bengals. Did you think at the start of December, when the

Bengals were 4 -8, they'd even be on a list like this? What would it take for

Cincinnati to act? Actually make the playoffs now. This is the Christmas wish

list for Cincinnati Bengals fans coming into this week. And what do they need

now? Bengals got to win that huge game against Denver next week.

Every game from 4 -8 on was win or go home.

Fourth quarter upon us. Bengals on the move. Tied at 10.

Denver wins. They're in the playoffs.

Bengals have got to win tonight, next week, and they need help.

when people come to the games.

I have pride that I do something that people are proud of, that they want to

come and support me, and that also brings people together.

Basically all my friends and coaches from home at that one.

To the end zone for the lead.

Biggest NFL game he's played in.

Going deep. Oh, he's got him. He's got Mims.

Touchdown.

Bengals are fighting for their life this season. They have to win this game in

order to stay alive in the playoff hunt, give themselves a chance.

I got up after the touchdown.

Nobody was around me, so I couldn't just, like, hug somebody or, like, spike

And then I saw Jamar, and he went like this.

Like, what are you going to do?

And so once I saw him, I was like, all right, I'll give it a shot.

Joe Burrow doing the gritty. The gritty.

Oh,

that's great.

14 seconds to go.

Fourth and one for Denver. No timeouts.

And Knicks will throw it. It is. It is.

Touchdown.

Touchdown. Touchdown.

With that ball moving, you can see it right there.

The ball touched the ground right there, too. Look. Right there. Right there.

After review.

We go to overtime between the Broncos and the Bengal.

On one.

T was on fire that game.

When T is out there at the defense, they have to worry about multiple different

things coming at them. They can't just focus on number one and cue in on him.

Because they've got number five on the other side who's going to make you pay

you don't have a plan for him as well.

They bring the linebackers going deep. He's looking for Higgins.

That was a tee game, so I'm looking for tee.

31 -yard beauty thrown by Burrow.

And does Burrow have some more magic in that arm?

The Bengals trying to win it from the three -yard line of Denver.

sometimes if I'm feeling really good.

yards in each of his last eight games no quarterback in pro football history has

done it while you play

on the field is great but when you walk into the locker room that's the special

moment unbelievable unbelievable let's fucking go you like that one

Not a lot of words for that one, man.

I mean, that took everybody in this locker room fighting for five quarters

football to find a way to get that win.

Here you guys are, week 16, 16th game of the season, finding a way to stay

alive. Love you guys.

Appreciate you. Let's go get one more. That's all I got.

I don't know that anybody can stand on a field and watch Joe Burrow and say he's

not the best player in the world. I would not trade.

Joe Burrow for any player in the universe, that's MVP to me.

Good job, Joe.

Good job, buddy.

Good job, buddy.

I feel like we've been in like six of those games this year, and it was the

first one we were able to pull out.

It's nice to get done, though.

I think staying in touch with people that are important to you

is important in life.

It gives friends and family a reason to come together and see each other and

laugh, joke, drink, whatever they want to do.

I take pride in that.

Why are you looking at me like that?

I like your jacket. I got the same one.

You want it?

No shirt under that, baby. Huh? No shirt under that. No, no shirt under that.

You like that?

That blonde's good.

Is that chain meal leather right there?

Tired and not tired at the same time.

Energized but exhausted.

Do you have a shirt under that jacket?

I don't.

You like that?

With the Detroit Lions at home last night, dismantling the Minnesota Vikings

31 -9, Detroit now claims the top seed and the bye in the NFC.

I missed the picture when Josh scored at the end. Because you were saying in the

huddle. He's in the huddle going, hey, when we score, we're all going to go

there and take a picture.

And I'm like...

I can't even think about that right now. Like, hold on.

I, like, barely heard that, because I was

like, I was like, I'm not worried about our touchdown celebration, dude.

I hand it to Gibbs, and he scores.

And I'm, like, walking off the field, and I see them all running there. And

like, I'm not going to be a part of that, I guess.

They're little kids.

You're old man. No, we're so old. We were like horizontal.

Jared fell asleep in the movie theater. What did you guys watch?

Timothy Chalamet, Bob Dylan movie. It was pretty good.

I fell asleep for about 15 probably.

Woke up and said, what happened?

I mean, the seats in that theater are like cozy.

Did you do the blue hair again this year?

Yeah, I did actually.

I've seen a little peek of blue.

You know, part two.

Can I see it? Yeah, of course.

Oh, yeah. It's a little darker I feel like than last year. Yeah, it's actually

like a really nice color.

I can't believe we just get to like watch.

the games this weekend.

Yeah. I was never done, huh?

So crazy.

How many days do you guys have off?

Three. We have tomorrow off, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

You have tomorrow off, too? They, like, broke it up.

What are we going to do with my time? No, literally.

I need to, like, keep him busy and entertained.

Good luck.

I know, same. I feel like they go crazy after, like, a day of being home.

I know. I'm running out of stuff to do.

Already, it hasn't been. You don't play video games, do you? I do play video

games. Oh, do you? That gets exhausting, too. I can only play the same game for

so long.

Oh, my gosh. These next few weeks are going to be crazy.

Crazy. It's just crazy because you don't know what's going to happen. It's just

weird to be week to week and not being able to plan anything.

But it's exciting.

All right. Cheers.

Cheers to the one seed. Cheers to a bye week.

A little break.

Finally.

And during the final three weeks, Atlanta is still very much alive. One

back in the NFC South.

So what went into this decision to bench Kirk Cousins? Well, it actually goes

back to the torn Achilles. And coming back from that, they didn't feel like he

was driving the ball quite the same in September. That resolved itself in

October. But then in November, in a game against the Saints.

He banged up his shoulder and elbow, and he really hasn't been the same since.

He's had a turnover issue, lost some confidence, so now they'll turn to

Penix. Once I lost my shoulder and my elbow, should I have sat out? Should I

have done something different in my rehab? You know, you have all those

questions.

With the information I had at the time, I made the best decision.

But you also know that if you sit down week 10 and take two or three weeks or

more to let it heal,

you may never get your job back, you know? I remember reading Drew Brees'

back in 2010 when he first wrote it, how, you know, he made the point that he

tried to never let his backup see the field, even if it was, you know,

who was really no threat.

He just felt like you should never do that, that Doug Flutie taught him that.

And so that was something I always was aware of, that, you know, in this

if you give someone else the chance, if you want to be Wally Pipp and there's

Lou Gehrig behind you, you know, that can happen.

At the time, you've got to make the decision with the information you have

Sure. I mean, I'm one play away, so I've got to stay sharp.

Talking to you, you know, if I can notice a couple of weeks, I want to make

you can rep it.

Yeah. If you want to do scouting, you can, whatever you want to do. Yeah, I

got to stay sharp. You let me know what you want to do. Yeah, I'm going.

I'm giving you a week before I tell you what to do.

CV,

I'm taking my first scout team reps here.

in probably 10 years.

I'm trying to think. I don't think I've taken a scouting rep in 10 years.

But today's the day.

So we'll get some work in today, you and me.

Our building rallied behind Kirk.

And to find a way to find those winning moments that we found early in the

season. But we're just not able to do it.

And ultimately, when we played that last game on that Monday night in Vegas.

That's when I ultimately have to make the change, which is always going to be

tough.

There it is.

Good ball, Mike.

Good ball, good ball, Mike, good ball.

Well thrown.

To watch him go out and be able to support our guy, be able to help him, I

thought was a very special thing that he was able to do for us.

Basic.

Yeah. Good job, Mike.

Damn.

Nothing wrong with that.

It's not easy.

It hurts, you know, to go into work. But you got to be an adult. You know, you

got to be a grown man and handle it with maturity.

I feel sorry for myself.

And, you know, it's hard to do, but that's what you got to do.

And so that's kind of where my focus went.

Hey, last time I was on scout team, they wouldn't call us the twos. They call us

the one Bs.

The one Bs. So it's third and nine, all right? Third and nine.

So you're a short motion. We'll just go ten shallow with cheddar.

You good with that? I am good with that. Let's get it.

Chin shallow with cheddar.

Okay. All right. I got a short motion here. So let's go silent quick. Silent

quick. Ready?

Chin shallow with cheddar.

Interesting.

All right.

Birds, birds, birds. Walk up. Walk up.

You're going to stay back. Okay.

So when Kirk told me he was going to be the best quarterback in the National

Football League, I had no doubt.

He might have went out and put on one of the better practices I've seen.

I literally haven't done that in 10 years.

It's been a long time. It's good for my soul.

Don't want to be in the position to do it, but it was good for my soul to get

back to where I was 10 years ago.

Being the guy getting reps every week, to go back and not getting any reps felt

really strange going into the game.

On the left side on F counter player.

Grizzlies steal.

F -Rabbit XC weekend, 18 -1 at six.

Another double A.

One for three on third down.

Penix with the blitz coming. It's picked up. He throws.

There it is.

Great run, and that's a first down.

First down and goal, Atlanta.

A cloud in motion. Robinson with the cut outside, and he will walk in for an

Atlanta touchdown.

Good run, B. Good run. Good job.

You're so accustomed to all this preparation centered around getting you

And so when you don't have that, you sort of feel a little lost.

Atlanta's going to be 8 -7. They beat the Giants, who fall to 2 -13.

Somebody made a comment, thanks for handling it the way you did, and I said,

well, there's only one way to handle it. The main focus is don't make it about

yourself. This is about the Falcons. This is about Michael, and stay out

of his way and the team's way enough. Be ready to play, but be a backup.

Hey, guys, how we doing?

All right.

Fourth and goal.

Panics. End zone.

Touchdown. Got it. He got it. He drilled it in there.

He drilled it in there to KP.

Quarters. Was it quarters?

Yeah.

Third and goal from the two.

It is Jason Daniels. End zone.

And Washington wins 30 -24.

For Atlanta, they fall to 8 -8.

Played your heart out, man.

An unbelievable throw on the fourth and 13.

Played your heart out.

Great job. Many more to come.

The Falcons come up short of the playoffs.

And they come up short in Week 18.

Played great today, man.

Three in a row. We played three great games.

You can build on it.

How are you doing?

Yeah, man, it's been three weeks. It's felt like three months. Yeah.

Oh, my goodness.

Because you're going through all three months of it, like the initial stage,

the, like, man. A lot of regret, a lot of regret.

You played well when they benched you.

You guys were losing, but you were playing well. I was just turning the

over. I couldn't figure it out. Right. And it was just like, man.

There's a lot of weight that comes with all that.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, for me, the turnovers have come in bunches at times in my career. Like in

Washington, I got benched my third year, threw a bunch, and then one year I was

leading the league in picks halfway into the year, and then I was able to flip

it around and play a lot better after the bye, but the same thing again

this year.

So, I don't know, it's always hard, too, later in your career, you know? Right.

And moving and everything. We just moved into our house, and now we're like, ah,

it's hard. It's hard, but anyway, it is what it is. Right.

Congrats on the NFP Player of the Week.

Is that your first one this year?

I got Player of the Month, but I have no Player of the Weeks.

This year?

You've had it before in previous years, right? Yeah.

Did you get the MVP chance when you went off the field?

I did. What were your thoughts?

I win one one day.

I doubt it. Why?

Usually you got to win your division.

Is Joe Burrow the MVP?

How could he not be? What you're watching is what a franchise quarterback

And if they sneak into the playoffs this year, yeah, they're not a favorite, but

they're dangerous, as we've said.

Look at him.

Good. Battling.

It's been a long year.

All right.

First slate.

Got it?

Burrow is one of three players all -time to throw for 4 ,500 yards, 40 passing

touchdowns, fewer than 10 interceptions in a single season. Who else did that?

Tom Brady in 2007.

Aaron Rodgers in 2011. They both won the MVP.

How does that make you feel, bro?

I'm proud of the season that I've had.

I'd love to win an MVP at some point in my career.

This year is probably not that year just because of how the season has gone for

us.

I think I'm deserving of it, but that's the

MVP award usually goes to the quarterback of the best team, and

that's not us this year.

What's your approach going into this game? I'm just excited for the

To go out and one play in the NFL, prime time with everything still in front of

us, it's a big opportunity for us in front of the world. We got a chance to

and make a statement. We obviously need help on Sunday, but we can control what

we can control and finish our season the right way.

And guys are excited about that opportunity, myself included.

Cincinnati, they're fighting for the number seven seed. They need a win here

tonight and a loss or tie by Miami and a loss by the Denver Broncos at home to

Kansas City.

That's what we fucking live for right here.

Joe Burrow, what a year he has had. Leaving the

NFL, touchdown passes, touchdown yardage.

Thanks.

And this has looked awfully easy against this Steelers defense.

That's Chase, and what a start for Cincinnati.

It's just not even fair.

Mission number one.

Extra man on the rush, and the ball is out.

Recovered by Herbert, it's four down.

It's always tough to understand what is happening to you in the game because you

don't feel a lot physically.

They've gotten after Joe Burrow pretty good. They've roughed him up.

Great start for Joe Burrow tonight. Since then, pretty frustrating.

You guys are coming today, huh? I got you. You guys are fucking coming.

Golly.

Burrow is under pressure.

Back just inside the 20 by Nick Herbert.

Hayward had pressure, too, and now Burrow can't get up.

driven into the ground very forcefully and felt my neck and jaw crunch.

So I thought I might have broken my neck, but I rolled over and moved

around, moved my neck around, and felt okay.

Sit in here. Am I all right? Yeah, I'm all right.

How about down in there?

That's okay?

It's all good. On the side here, I'm good? Yeah, I'm good.

Turn your head this way. Just turn it.

That's okay? Yeah, that's okay. Turn it this way for me.

That's okay?

I'm okay. I think the crunch that I felt might have just

been my jaw getting smashed into my face, but I was all good.

Fuck. Good?

I'm good.

It's tough.

Give me my helmet. You're just, like, worried he's not going to get up, but he

keeps getting up, and you just have to put out of your mind what could be

Yeah,

I'm good.

Had some large humans fall on top of me right on the old neck.

We'll be sore tomorrow, but we'll be all good. That's why you do the workouts in

offseason. That's why you got that big frog neck.

Yeah, that's right.

Bengals have to win, period. They lose, they're out. They win, they need help

tomorrow.

Steelers, they need about 24 more yards or so to give Boswell a chance.

No. No.

Come on, Trey. Where you at?

Wilson is back by Hendrickson again.

Yeah!

15 seconds left. Fourth down and 12.

Wilson incomplete.

And Cincinnati will take over.

Let's go.

And a five -game winning streak to end the year for Cincinnati will be enough.

Let's go, 9 -1. Let's go.

Let's go.

Let's go, man.

Let's go, Mike. Yeah.

That's a big fucking win right there.

That's how you fucking do it. You got a lot of shit, man. Victory on one. They

need a Kansas City win over Denver tomorrow and a Jets win or tie against

Ready?

Let's go.

Good job, Patrick. Love you, bro. Yeah, you too. I'm good, bro. You sure?

Yeah. Well, Mac Crunch is all good, though.

Five consecutive wins now, and yet you still don't know.

If it's enough, what's tomorrow going to be like watching with, you know, your

fate in someone else's hands? Yeah, not great, but we put ourselves in this

position. Nobody blamed but ourselves. So, you know, we'll enjoy this win and

back, watch some football tomorrow and hope for the best. All right. Good luck

to you. Thanks.

Let's fucking go, man.

I know you guys appreciate how hard it is to win on the road, in the AFC North,

in primetime, winning five in a row in December and January.

And all you guys did was put yourself in a position, man, to sit on your couch

tomorrow, watch some football, cheer like a fan, and pray to God we get into

this thing because you deserve it.

Okay, that's all you need to know right now. Get a break.

Of course, the Bengal Nation is watching this game very closely.

Cincinnati won yesterday. They need a Jet victory and a Kansas City win, and

then they would be in.

Anything can happen any given day.

It's obviously frustrating, but we put ourselves in this position, so.

15 -1 Kansas City Chiefs. They will be sitting a lot of their stars today,

taking on a team trying to get into the playoffs for the first time in years.

They got to figure out a way to get stops.

They got to stop the run against these guys.

We'll call from the 32.

They fake it to him. They fake the end of the run to Franklin.

And here they come back to near side.

It's tough to win a game without playing any of your starters.

I

mean,

not great.

But there's nothing I can do about it.

All I can do is sit here and watch.

That has gotten away from Kansas City, broken the hearts and wishes pretty

for the Dolphin and Bengal faithful.

The season's a lot.

It's very difficult to be that disciplined and

always... on edge for that long.

I made some pretty cool plays, I thought.

But, like, stats, I mean, they're great, but they don't mean a ton.

Final score, Denver 38, Kansas City nothing, but it's on to the postseason

It's offseason pretty much.

which in ways is a relief and also frustrating and annoying and a lot of

different things.

You didn't ultimately do what you wanted to do, and that was not great, but when

you get to off -season healthy, that's a weight off your shoulders, I would say.

I've had a lot of not healthy off -seasons.

Welcome to the divisional playoff. We're in Detroit, the number one seed Lions

taking on the Commanders.

The Lions have been the best team in the league, 15 wins. They've been building

to this under Dan Campbell, a place they've never been before, the number

seed in the NFC.

Now, though, as the top dog, how can they live up to the pressure?

It feels like it's been so long since we played a game. It's weird.

To know that we have the opportunity to play the next two games here, it's so

exciting. And to get that bye week, it just feels good. Go get them.

When the playoffs start, everyone's intensity goes up a little bit.

Another one.

Be great, buddy.

It's like you're back to the beginning of the season again. Everyone's zero on

zero. And expectations in the postseason went through the bowl.

Jared Boff, he's been special the last three years.

More touchdowns, more yards than any other quarterback in the league. I can't

see what he's got in store tonight.

These commanders, an amazing year. They're a 12 -wing team. They upset the

last week. Now will that magic carpet ride continue?

Let's fucking go now!

Let's fucking go now!

Set!

Here's Goff. Back to throw.

Protected. Deepak Williams and a dime from Goff.

See if they give it to Gipps.

They will. One shot.

Get it!

Touchdown! Let's go!

Yes, baby!

That's how it's gonna be, boys!

Felt like we had a good game plan and felt like we had ability to exploit some

things that we wanted to. And yeah, we felt good.

I

just

had some pressure from my backside and hit right on the ball and got

it out.

Wish I would have done a better job of just taking care of that in that

situation. Help me out, defense.

Vanders did so good in the red zone.

See if they can punch it in.

And they're in front.

With Vanders in this game, they've got 173 yards of offense already.

Smart, smart, smart.

Triple set.

Don't break.

Stop looking. Going deep again.

Got it. What a throw he kept up. I'm in raw.

He actually makes a perfect throw.

Same ground right in his hand.

180. We're set.

Thank God.

Bless you. And double throw.

Let's go.

Throw it away, throw it away, throw it away. And he's like, oh, no, I'm going

hold this, see if someone can uncover right in his face under duress.

That was just sensational.

Jared Goff has been surgical this year. He sure has. I think all the adversity

he's had in his career led him to this moment.

Very fucking good, buddy. Great job. I ain't happy for the last two minutes.

Daniel's quick throw far side. Get it out there to the corner.

You're kidding me.

Touchdown, Washington.

You're not going to stop us. Nope.

You haven't played from behind that much. You should be, like, killing this.

That's what...

Gary.

There's just an emotional letdown when you are the number one seed in the

player. You fully expected to have a lead here in the second quarter. This is

where you can't panic.

nightmare fuel for Lions fans right now.

Oh, my God.

It's a bad throw.

Just a bad throw.

He just sailed it probably two or three yards too high.

He's got Laporta right underneath wide open.

That's just Jared trying to take the big play over the easy play.

The ball just came out a bit high.

Wish I could have it back.

Something that still wakes me up at night and still bothers the hell out of

and something I think about quite a bit.

That guy made a great play on the backhand, and he was able to take it

Yeah, I got smoked by Lulu.

Jared Goff got popped at the end of that play.

Is that a legal hit?

After the interception, the quarterback is considered defenseless.

You can't hit him in the head or neck area, which Lulu did. So this should

been called the 15 -yard penalty from the five -yard line.

You got to check out. I'm good.

Nope, they just called down ATC 5. We have to bring you in right now. Where

we going?

We're going to the tank.

I'm good, though.

Hey, I'm going back in just so you know.

Jared's not out there.

Jared's being evaluated for a concussion.

You're frustrated because it takes me out for a drive. It takes me out for a

handful of plays.

How long does this take?

As soon as they're done, you're good to go. How have they not watched the video

yet? They have to let you re -watch it. Our docs have to.

He took a heck of a shot, and I was worried. You know, I was worried. I

honestly, I was already in the mode of get Teddy ready because there's a lot of

guys who might not have got up from that. That was a hell of a hit.

So they took him into that loop head, and they do like a test, but he came

so that's good.

The reliance on the backup quarterback is so important. Even in this, for three

or four plays, pull down the floor, gain a first down until we kick off and come

back in the game.

I'm like, oh, shit, like, this is the first time all year we've played without

Jared at quarterback.

I'm 100%. I'm even better now.

I've been hit harder than that.

This is crazy.

This is the first half.

We're good.

The offensive explosion, the back and forth. We got a shootout.

Daniels puts it in. Caught by Jackers.

Touchdown. Let's go get one. Let's get a touchdown.

They're called the cardiac commanders because they've done this since he's all

season long.

Jaden Daniels had a hell of a year. We knew going into that game he was going

play well. And so.

I think it was another one of those games.

Offensively, we needed to be on point.

That was how we had to play most of the year.

You're only down three.

I think that was the moment where we knew we had a good chance to really come

back and win this game, despite what had happened in the first half.

One play at a time.

This is what we do here. This is what we do. Let's go.

One play at a time.

The biggest drive of their season.

Got to find a way to get points on this drive.

The

fourth

turnover

of the day by the Lions.

You guys, this is, I can't believe this is happening.

Well, Ben Johnson dials up the trick play like no one else, and they normally

work, but that was a disaster. Jamison Williams throwing into a crowd, and now

the commander's chance to really put the hammer down. Up 10, 12 minutes to go.

You think you're invincible, you think you're untouchable, and right when you

do, you get knocked down to your knees.

The bottom line is this. We turned the ball over, and we didn't get any

takeaways on defense.

That was the story of the game.

You don't have the luxury of making errors, and we just did on that day. And

they capitalized on them, and it cost us.

I can't accept this. This is happening.

I don't know what to do.

I can't. I literally, like, can't handle it.

Lions fans stunned.

That season in their franchise history, and the commanders have had every

answer.

No.

Washington will be going to the NFC Championship for the first time in 33

And the number one seed Detroit Lions are headed for a very, very long

offseason.

When you're the one seed and you have the bye week, you're kind of

making it further than the divisional round.

For it to be so suddenly over, you know, you know, that's how it goes every year

if you don't win the whole thing, but we were always humble, but we were very

confident and we knew we had the team that could win it all.

It just came up short, and it sucks. It sucks that it happened in the first

round. It sucks that it happened at home. We got the bye week, and we were

one seed, and we had everything we wanted, and we just didn't get it done

it mattered that night, and the commanders did.

I just can't believe we're not going to be here next week.

God,

it sucks so bad.

Sucks. Sucks, worst part of this job, and you hate it when you feel like you

guys down, and I'm so painfully disappointed and sorry to our fans, and

humbling game. We were on the top of the world after that Minnesota game, and

then it's hard standing here right now and trying to process it all.

Had I played better, do we win?

Possibly, you know, and that's the part that'll eat me alive for the whole

offseason.

I remember my rookie year, Mike Shanahan made the point that only one team is

happy at the end of the year.

And that stuck with me. And the truth of that statement became more real to me

as I played longer and realized that it's difficult for a season to end on a

positive note unless you're the one holding up the Lombardi trophy.

That quarterback, you're so tied to wins and losses.

And only one guy can be happy at the end of the year. So failure is so much more

common than success.

It is challenging, and it is the hard part of our job.

But you wouldn't trade it for the world. It's the greatest job in the world.

We're so lucky to be able to do it in front of the fans that we have, the fans

that love us.

Joe Burrow joining us here at NFL Honors.

Hello, Joe Burrow. How are you doing tonight?

I got some planets down here, I think. That's fire. Yo, that is different.

No one's had that. I thought that was cool because it's like UFOs. Honestly,

going to buy a dress better than Joe Burrow. Yeah, you got to give me a Joe

Burrow, man. Come on.

NFL Honors is the award show for the NFL. It's basically the Oscars for

players. I got you, bro.

When we went to the Super Bowl in 2021.

Thanks, everybody, so much. I won Comeback Player of the Year and I'm

for this weekend.

Not going to an award show like that and getting ready to play is obviously much

more satisfying than being there, but you're trying to have fun.

It's all right, it's all right, it's all I've ever known. The 2024 NFL comeback

player of the year is Joe Burrow. It's all right, it's all right, it's all I've

ever known.

It's all right, it's all right.

I was proud of that.

That's the second time winning it.

You only get that award if the season before didn't go the way that you wanted

it to go.

So I don't want to be up for it again.

If I am up for it again, I'm going to win it.

Thanks, guys. It's an honor.

My expectations for myself will never change.

Because when you lose, then...

You hate that feeling and you think about never having to feel that again.

then when you win, there's just something addicting about that.

So you just try to work as hard as you can to put yourself in position to win

and have that happiness and that joy and that satisfaction.

There's been a lot of speculation about the future of her cousin in Atlanta.

The Atlanta Falcons picked up her cousin's $10 million bonus. Yeah, he's

roster.

He says it's a backup to Michael Penix Jr.

I've learned over the years that I make plans and God laughs.

And so as a steward, not an owner, I got to let the owner handle it.

I just want to finish with a world championship and be able to kind of

that memory room at my house in Michigan.

The builder of the house said that he put this notch in here by design for a

Lombardi trophy.

I was talking about how...

Whether it's a game, whether it's a season, whether it's a career, you want

start fast.

You want to finish strong.

And so I'm going to have a fire in my tank to go finish strong here with

wherever this thing goes. There we go.

That was pretty good.

Hard climb.

There it is. There it is. We're done on that. There it is.

That looked easy.

For quite some time after you wake up in the middle of the night thinking about

it, you wake up in the morning, the first thing you think about is, you

what could I have done better to give ourselves a chance to win?

But I think as time heals in these situations, our family is beginning to

now, and I can't wait.

Okay, here she is.

Aww.

That's so crazy.

We couldn't be more excited. I think it'll...

Give you even more purpose in your life and something to really play for and win

for. I know she's going to be a great mom, and I'm going to be as good of a

as I can be as well.

There she is, little peanut.

Cute.

Little alien in there.

Cute little alien.

I'm going to record her heart.

We get another chance next year, everyone zero and zero.

Good, relax.

I'm going to get back to it, start working out again, start throwing again.

It's the greatest part of our sport. It just starts right over again. In your

face. Here we go.

Year 10.

Still got it.

Still got it.

I am my own arrow.

I am my own arrow.

Yikes.