All it takes is one play. With 6:53 left in the 4th quarter with the Eagles leading 16-14, Brian Westbrook took a Donovan McNabb screen-pass 71 yards to the house to essentially seal the victory over the Vikings. Whew!! Up until that point, Wetbrook had 16 touches for only 32 yards. The Birds have relied on big plays all season and big plays decided this one.
Asante Samuel returned an interception 44 yards for a score mid-way through the second quarter to give the Eagles a 16-7 lead. It was Samuel’s fourth post-season pick six and is exactly why he was given a $57 million dollar contract back in March. Ironically, Samuel had left the game the previous series after re-aggravating his strained hip.
DeSean Jackson had five punt returns for 105 yards, including a 62 yarder to set-up the Eagles first field goal. Jackson also added one catch for 34 yards, but it was key as it led to a third field goal. He also did an excellent job blocking down-field on Wetbrook’s touchdown.
David Akers had one of the best games of his career. He drilled four field goals of 43, 51, 31 and 45 yards. Since the Birds struggle to score touchdowns, Akers has proven vital to this late season run .
With 2:53 remaining in the game, Juqua Parker recovered a fumble on a bad snap to prevent any sort of comeback rally.
Finally, there was McNabb. He moves to 5-0 in his career vs Minnesota and has never lost an opening round playoff game in his career. With the running game stalled, Donovan needed to be sharp and he was. He finished 23/34 for 300 yards with one TD, one INT and one fumble. Jarred Allen and Brian Robison harassed him all day but he stood tall and threw the Birds to a win.
It was a typical grind it out kind of game. The Eagles allowed 148 yards on the ground, but stuffed Peterson in the second half. They ran 23 times for 67 yards. Not pretty, but credit Andy Reid for not totally abandoning the rush as he’s done in the past. I wanted to see 25 runs, so they were close. Up next, another trip to the Meadowlands to face the well-rested Giants. Should be another classic battle between division rivals who know one another quite well.
FlickSided

[...] bf) played an episode for me after the EAGLES totally kicked the ass of his Vikings. EAGLES. PLAYOFFS. KICK. FUCKING. [...]