McNabb, Eagles beat Giants to reach NFC title game
Eagle face Cardinals in NFC championship game
Monday, January 12, 2009 10:23 AM PST
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| Bill Kostroun | Associated Press
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb (5) lunges into the end zone for a touchdown against the New York Giants during the first quarter of an NFL divisional playoff football game on Sunday, at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. |
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Eli Manning dropped back, saw Steve Smith shake loose from the Philadelphia defense and threw. The ball wobbled, got caught in the wind and fell to the turf.
Gone was the chance for a completion deep downfield on Manning’s first pass of the afternoon. Gone, too, it seemed, was the touch that made him the Super Bowl MVP in his last postseason game.
While Manning and the New York Giants struggled, Donovan McNabb and the Eagles kept making all the key plays. Philadelphia eliminated the defending champs 23-11 Sunday and reached the NFC title game for the fifth time in eight seasons.
‘‘The players executed like crazy,’’ Eagles coach Andy Reid said. ‘‘They never wavered one bit. That’s tough to find in this league.’’
These NFL playoffs are clearly for the Birds — the underdog Eagles, Cardinals and Ravens all won on the road this weekend.
McNabb lunged for one touchdown, threw for another and converted several tough third downs to move the sixth-seeded Eagles (11-6-1) into next Sunday’s title game at Arizona (11-7). Philadelphia beat the Cardinals 48-20 on Thanksgiving night.
A year after road success fueled the Giants’ route, the Eagles are taking the same path. They opened the postseason by winning at Minnesota and, after their sixth victory in seven tries, look nothing like a team that needed several breaks on the final day simply to make the playoffs.
‘‘It’s been a very delightful, intriguing, and pleasant journey right now,’’ defensive back Brian Dawkins said.
David Akers added three field goals — extending his NFL record to 18 straight in the postseason — to fend off the top-seeded Giants (12-5).
‘‘I am very, very disappointed,’’ Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. ‘‘I am sorry to see the season come to an end. There is remorse for opportunities lost.’’
Five times New York got inside the Eagles 20. The result? A mere three field goals.
The swirling winds played havoc with any ball in the air, and also helped skew the score: This was the first game in NFL history to finish 23-11, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Manning never resembled the poised quarterback who sealed last year’s Super Bowl upset of New England with that one perfect spiral to Plaxico Burress.
‘‘When we needed to get something done, get a spark to make a big play, that’s when we didn’t do our best,’’ Manning said.
Benched by Reid in late November for half a game, McNabb never has acknowledged that the slight hurt him. He has, however, seemed to play with a huge chip on his shoulder — to the Eagles’ benefit.
‘‘He is the best quarterback in the NFL,’’ Reid said. ‘‘I don’t think I have to say anything more than that.’’
McNabb converted a third-and-20, setting set up Akers’ 34-yard kick for a 13-11 lead in the third quarter. On the first play of the fourth quarter, he made a perfect play-action fake for a 1-yard TD toss to Brent Celek.
McNabb also drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in the game when he was pushed out of bounds on the Giants sideline, picked up a phone there and had a brief, fake conversation.
By the final two minutes, more than half the crowd had left; Big Blue hasn’t won a playoff game at Giants Stadium since 2000. Philly fans headed down the New Jersey Turnpike after another big win for their city — the Phillies won the World Series in October.
‘‘In the locker room, there was so much energy in there. We were ready to play early in the week,’’ McNabb said. ‘‘The city of Philadelphia is buzzing; this team is buzzing.’’
Manning ended up 15-for-29 with two interceptions, often overthrowing his targets. The Giants did not score a touchdown and lost for the fourth time in five games.
‘‘It all comes down to what you do in the playoffs. That makes your season a good one or a disappointment,’’ Manning said. ‘‘This is a disappointment.
‘‘We felt this was a special team that could go far. The defense played outstanding today and gave us opportunities. Offensively, we didn’t do our job. We didn’t score enough points.’’
Three road teams won on the same weekend in the NFL playoffs for the first time since 1971. Also for the first time, none of the top three seeds in the NFC made it to the conference championship.
With Arizona and Philadelphia advancing, it guaranteed the NFC will send a team with no more than nine wins in a full, regular season to the Super Bowl for the first time since the Los Angeles Rams in 1979. Those Rams lost to the Steelers.
The Eagles won for the second time this season at the Meadowlands, and were the only team to win on Giants’ turf.
‘‘Last year we were the road warriors. This year, I thought we would be the warriors at home. It just didn’t come to pass,’’ Coughlin said.
Overall, McNabb’s stats were not overwhelming: 22-for-40 for 217 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions and was called for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety.
Yet on a day where the conditions weren’t ideal, McNabb kept his composure.
Once Ahmad Bradshaw returned the opening kickoff 65 yards, little went right for the Giants. Reliable John Carney missed two of five field-goal tries and New York missed open-field tackles.
Not the way the Giants played last season. Then again, Coughlin’s team has changed: Michael Strahan retired, Osi Umenyiora and Super Bowl hero David Tyree were injured, and Burress was suspended after accidentally shooting himself in the thigh. New York went 1-4 since that banishment.
‘‘I mean we had a better record this year,’’ defensive end Justin Tuck said. ‘‘Offensively, we did more things this year and defensively, I think we were better.’’
‘‘Obviously, it would have helped if we did have those guys but like I said, there is no excuse.’’
