Eagles Beat Giants - Now its Onto Arizona!

I can't quite believe I'm writing this, but the Birds are back in the NFC Championship Game.

I tell you what, in late November, I was talking with my dad after the Eagles coughed up a couple of crappers in-a-row....that miserable (yet oh-so necessary it turns out) tie with Cincinnati and the debacle against the Ravens, and I had to agree with him when he said, "Ant, this just isn't a team capable of winning a championship." It was definitely a dark moment from this year. McNabb looked horrible and the offense simply seemed incapable of mounting anything resembling a consistent, professional offense.

I've watched all the highlights, multiple times, read a bunch of stories about the game, hell, I even Tivo'd the AFN re-broadcast of the game.

There were plenty of talk about the defense on its back-to-back 4th down stands and the gutsy performance from McNabb and the offense. But in all the coverage there is one thing I haven't seen: someone remark on a key play as the 2nd quarter wound down: DT/DE Darren Howard's huge hustle play stopping Derrick Ward short of a first down on a 3rd and 5 with less than 2:00 left. It is the sort of "unsung hero" play that often goes overlooked.

So why did it stick out to me? First off, because the Giants were down 7-5 at the time, but driving for an end-of-the-half score. It was 3rd and 5, and Eli Manning hits Ward on a little swing pass. It looks like a sure first down conversion, but Howard leaps and hauls him down from behind two yards short of the first.

Why does this matter? First off, it stifled the Giants drive and compelled Tom Coughlin to go for the FG and try to take a 8-7 lead into halftime. It also allowed the Eagles to get the ball back with about 1:30, which turned out to be plenty of time for McNabb to guide the Birds down the field with the two-minute offense and set up a David Akers FG as time expired, giving the Birds a 10-8 lead at the half.

Without Howard's tackle, the Giants would probably have run the rest of the time off the 2nd qtr clock, and taken a lead into the half. More importantly, the drive McNabb engineered to end the half wouldn't have happened, at it is that drive which Donovan credited as giving the Eagles the momentum and confidence they had in the 3rd and the 4th quarters. So without that tackle, the Eagles have no confidence building drive and no lead heading into the second half, and who knows where the game heads after that.

That is why I consider Darren Howard's stop my unsung key of the game.

Let's Not get Too Hasty

I appreciate a win as much as the rest of Eagles nation, but I think the demeanor of the coverage is appropriate - it was a nice win, a HUGE, potentially season-saving win, but it doesn't suddenly mean the Eagles have arrived.

Let's face it. There is the potential for an equally GI-normous letdown next Sunday when the 0-fer Dolphins limp into the Linc. Who the F wants to a face a win-less team at this point in the season?

NOBODY! Ask the Saints. At some point, pride kicks in and the team comes up with a respectable effort (though they really should've beaten the Bills yesterday, oh well, oops).

Think the Boo-birds were bad Sunday Night vs Dallas? What happens if McNabb coughs up another cheap fumble to Jason Taylor? Or the special teams isn't and the Birds finds themselves looking up at a winless team in November at home? Yikes....

Look, I don't expect any of that to happen. If this Eagles team is going to do anything, they need to stomp on Miami, get to .500 and then try and summon an angel to help them defeat the Patriots...

But back to Sunday, my satellite coverage was spotty but AFN replayed the Eagles games last night, so I got see some of it on my nice big widescreen TV instead of streaming to my computer monitor (which ain't so small either).

Did anyone notice:
- The effectiveness of the offense with a finally healthy L.J. Smith in the line-up. Westbrook was his usual phenomenal self, but its hard to ignore a 4 TD performance by McNabb and 3 for 3 TD ratio inside the redzone in the first game that L.J. was out there for a significant period (and by that I mean consistently, every series, not just spot duty.). Not saying he's the magic pill that made the O go, but his presence helped. For whatever reason, the Birds got it done when they needed to.

- The plays by the up-to-now-invisible Darren Howard on the goal-line in the 4th quarter? He was in the run to the right (tackle made by Howard, Bunk, Patt and Co), he was in the Portis dive to the goal-line where he got stood up, fumbled and snatched it back before it got away, and he was the guy who penetrated the line and dragged Portis down on the the running play to the right. Somehow, he was all over the place. Does that mean I think he's not a stiff. Umm no, he hasn't played anywhere near close to contract, and he'll be gone after the season...but...it was nice to see him show up and be accounted for...