The Internet has gone absolutely crazy for Erin Andrews’ epic interview with Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman following the Seahawks’ 23-17 NFC Championship win over San Francisco Sunday night.

To quickly recap, Sherman set up the interception by linebacker Malcolm Smith to seal the Seahawks’ trip to the Super Bowl. Following the play, Sherman mocked 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree. And the two continued their fight via Twitter late into the night.

Seconds after the game-winning play, Andrews knew she had to get Sherman for the live postgame interview. And she certainly did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elatO5E8pGs#t=16

Andrews knew immediately this would go viral, but didn’t realize Sherman would receive so much backlash.

“I don’t want this to look like I was upset with him, I was frightened, I felt threatened, we all like Richard Sherman a lot at Fox,” Andrews told For The Win. “At that moment I saw how crazy it was going to blow up, and I wanted to make sure people knew it wasn’t a situation where I’m a victim and he acted like an idiot.”

But she does have a small battle wound from the postgame scrum.

“I walked in front of an interview that was going on because I knew we were coming on live,” she said. “He looked up, realized it was me and he gave me this giant bear hug because he was so excited … And he hugged me so hard I hit my chin on his pads. It was a raw, passionate, candid moment. That’s how pumped he was.”

Immediately following the interview and all day Monday, Twitter erupted with negative commentary on how Sherman handled himself, when really he was just riding on adrenaline because he made the play to send his team to the Super Bowl. It’s the kind of moment reporters live for.

“You expect these guys to play like maniacs and animals for 60 minutes,” she said. “And then 90 seconds after he makes a career-defining, game-changing play, I’m gonna be mad because he’s not giving me a cliché answer, ‘That’s what Seahawks football is all about and that’s what we came to do and we practice for those situations.’ No you don’t. That was awesome. That was so awesome. And I loved it.”

During the emotional interview, Sherman yelled, “I’m the best corner in the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that’s the result you gonna get. Don’t you ever talk about me. […] Don’t you open your mouth about the best or I’m gonna shut it for you real quick.”

Andrews knew Sherman was referring to Crabtree, but wanted to make sure the audience was on the same page, which is why she chose to get clarification in her follow-up question.

“I thought I would be criticized if I didn’t follow up, or if I said something like, ‘So anyway, you’re going to the Super Bowl now,'” she said. “No. This guy just went off. Let’s make sure we know who he’s talking about.”

Of course Andrews only had seconds to think, and handled the situation professionally. The Fox producers then cut off the interview because they were concerned the language might get out of hand.

“Athletes don’t do that. They’re usually composed,” she said. “They usually take a minute and that’s why we grab them right after games because we hope they lose their minds like that, we hope they show pure joy. We hope he does the same thing at the Super Bowl. We don’t want a watered-down version of him.”

Andrews said that both she and Sherman reached out to each other Monday and all is well. And that her producers might send her to Seattle for a one-on-one with Sherman before the Super Bowl on Feb 2.

“Why would you not?” she said. “It’s great stuff.”