What began as a classic blowout turned into a classic finish.
It was a tale of two halves. The Eagles trailed the Cardinals 24-6 after two quarters. They were soundly manhandled on both sides of the ball. Stupid penalties, dropped passes, missed tackles, poor throws and awful execution. Arizona controlled every phase of the game in the first half. The Eagles left the field looking dejected and beaten. Then came the second half.
The Birds shook off the rust and attacked on both sides of the ball. Donovan McNabb, who was erratic in the first half, tossed three touchdowns to give the Eagles a 25-24 lead with less than eight minutes remaining. The defense – which dominated in the third quarter – had to come up huge but couldn’t. Kurt Warner marched his offense down the field and finished it off with his fourth TD pass of the game. A two-point conversion later and the Cards regained control 32-25 with less than three minutes to go.
Needing six, the offense failed to get into Cardinals’ territory. McNabb missed an open DeSean Jackson and Hank Baskett on consecutive plays, leaving the Eagles a fourth-and-ten to keep the drive alive at the two-minute warning. A Kevin Curtis dropped pass ended the Eagles 2008 campaign. McNabb would finish with 375 yards passing and three touchdowns, but it just wasn’t enough.
The Eagles were never able to overcome a terrible first half of football. They missed too many opportunities to win the game. The Cardinals made several big plays on both sides of the ball and deserve their trip to the Super Bowl. They had a better gameplan and executed it to near perfection. Larry Fitzgerald again proved unstoppable: 9 catches for 152 yards and three touchdowns. The Eagles defense had no answers for the super-strong, super-fast wide receiver. Kurt Warner beat Jim Johnson‘s blitzes repeatedly with quick, precise throws and never made a mistake. Congratulations to the Cardinals.
So, the Eagles under Andy Reid are now 1-4 in NFC title games. I wish I had an answer as to why the Birds cannot complete the necessary work to reach the Super Bowl. Like in 2002 and 2003, the whole team was tight and sloppy. Another slow start and the inability to score touchdowns doomed them. Even the normally reliable David Akers hooked a 47 yard field goal and a PAT. Geesh!
I’m sure a lot of fingers will be pointed in the coming days, but this Eagles team won as a team the last two weeks and lost as a team today. Sure McNabb missed several open receivers and Asante Samuel was abused all game long, but if it weren’t for these two guys the Eagles would have never been playing for the NFC Championship. It’s a disappointing end to a puzzling season. Vent your frustration. Blame who you want. Eagles Nation is accustomed to crushing losses, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
As a farewell note I’d like to congratulate the 2008 Eagles on one of the wildest, head-scratching seasons I can remember. You made it interesting, you made it exciting. Here’s hoping 2009 will be better. The new season begins tomorrow.
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[...] their legacies. Instead, we are all left with the stench of another NFC Championship defeat. This was the fourth such defeat in 5 opportunities under Andy Reid. I am glad my brother broke down what happened in the game, because I don’t think I have it in [...]