Clipped Wings

We knew. We knew, like Dante in Clerks, we weren't even supposed to be here. We knew we were on borrowed time, playing with house money, whichever metaphor appealed.

Yet, somehow, that didn't lessen the sting of Sunday's crushing loss. Somehow, the miracle of making the playoffs just three weeks earlier provided no consolation. When the clock struck zero in Phoenix, it was the Arizona Cardinals who had won the Battle of the Birds, and had earned the right to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XLIII. And I don't know about you, but I felt like I got punched in the stomach.

There was so much talk leading up to this game about legacy. How would this NFC Championship game, the fifth in eight seasons, impact history's judgment of this Eagles era? Was Andy Reid, the winningest coach in Eagles history, worthy of the Hall of Fame? Was Donovan McNabb, statistically the greatest Eagles quarterback of all time, deserving of a plaque in Akron? In my heart I knew the answer, but I still hoped beyond hope that Sunday's game would prove me wrong.

It didn't.

What I saw on Sunday was a team that came to play a half too late. I saw a defense that expected another cakewalk like it had on Thanksgiving night, leaving the best receiver in the game right now single-covered. Repeatedly. I saw an undisciplined team, committing false start penalties and taking cheap shots at an unprotected quarterback nowhere near the ball. I saw a running back, obviously hurt beyond the possibility of contribution, continuously handed the ball, while his healthy backup--the star of the romp over Dallas, averaging 5.7 yards a carry in the playoffs coming in--mostly rode the pine. And yet again, I saw a team with no sense of urgency, oblivious to the notion of clock management, as time dwindled down in each half.

And that is why Andy Reid is not a Hall of Fame coach.

But oh, how I wanted more than anything for Donovan to succeed. How I hoped that this would be the day that number 5 proved them all wrong, played tough all four quarters, using his arm and his legs to scrap for first downs when sacks seemed imminent. How I prayed for this to be his coming-out party, a chance to show the world that, come Hell or high water, he was gonna find the end zone. But there was the badly underthrown pass to Hank Baskett at the end of the first half, where if he'd hit him in stride, he was off to the races untouched. And still I prayed.

And after an incredible half of football brought the Birds back into a game they were being blown out of, the stage was set. Down 7 with under three to play. Where the cream rises to the top. Where Montana, Young, Elway, and Favre made their bones. Where good becomes great. Where Donovan went 3-8, with two of the completions overthrown to open receivers, and one for five yards in the middle of the field that took up 24 seconds.

Yes, there were dropped passes as always. Yes, this team has no true number one receiver. Yes, there were two egregious pass interference penalties that weren't called. But when it really counted, when the team really needed him to step up and be the man, Donovan McNabb wasn't there.

And that is why he is not a Hall of Fame quarterback. Not yet, at least. But still I hope, still I pray, that Donovan will someday prove me wrong.

The magic has run out, the roller coaster of the 2008 season is over.

But, as they say, there's always next year.
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Other Musings: The guy doing the lead-in for 30 Rock says, "Hey. What's 10 rock times 3 rock? Give up? It's 30 Rock." Actually, it's 30 Rock squared. Thanks for playing.

Even Budweiser couldn't resist trying to capitalize on Barack Obama, with their "inaugur-ale" ad. No -ability joke here. That's just gross.

You see they brought the Southwest commercial back with the guy who smashes his pal's TV by throwing the controller? It's funny, yet upsetting, cause I'm waiting for my wife to do the same thing with Wii Bowling. Worse is the fact that the whole tagline, "Wanna get away?" implies that you can just pick up and go. Problem is that those amazing rates are only with a 14-day advance purchase. Oops.

Triumph

The temperatures in New York City are hovering around freezing, and are expected to dip into single digits by the weekend. Something tells me that it feels even colder to fans of the New York Giants. Especially at around 3:00 ET this Sunday afternoon, when the NFC Championship game commences without their beloved Big Blue.

In a fashion that can only be described as stunning, the Philadelphia Eagles marched into the Meadowlands on Sunday and knocked off the defending champs 23-11, earning a trip to Arizona for the right to go to the Super Bowl. Donovan McNabb created opportunities with his feet, scored a touchdown on a QB sneak, and made huge third-down conversions, doing just enough to eliminate and humiliate Eli Manning. (My favorite headline here in New York was "From Hero to Zero.") The defense was awesome once again, intercepting two passes, stopping the Giants' ground game on two fourth down runs, and held their opponent to 14 points or fewer for the sixth straight game. And, oh yeah, no touchdowns.

And I still can't believe it happened. Since that self-inflicted fumble by receiver Steve Smith, since the second knee taken by Donovan, I can't even count how many times I've said, out loud and to no one in particular, "Oh my God, we won." When I woke up yesterday morning, it was literally the first thing that crossed my mind, asking myself, "Did it really happen?" Yes. It really happened. Six weeks ago, the Ravens destroyed us, 36-7, leaving us at 5-5-1. Three weeks ago we couldn't score a touchdown in Washington, and it looked like the season was over for sure. And now we're one win away from the Impossible Dream, Super Bowl XLIII.

It is, without a doubt, unbelievable.

We know the obvious plays that made this incredible win credible: Another Asante Samuel interception and return to the Giants 1. The stop on 4th and inches on Eli's pitiful sneak attempt. The stop on Brandon Jacobs' 4th down run. The Quinton Mikell interception. The third-and-20 play where Donovan eluded the sack and got a 21-yard pass play to Jason Avant. The third-and-20 play where Donovan eluded the sack and got a 21-yard pass play to Correll Buckhalter.

But there were four tackles that were very literally the difference between winning and losing.

The first was the opening kickoff, when Ahmad Bradshaw nearly returned it to the house. If it weren't for David Akers knocking him out of bounds, the Giants open the game with a touchdown. Talk about momentum.

The second was just under four minutes left in the first half. The handoff went to Jacobs, and he was off to the races. If Sheldon Brown doesn't get enough of the man's shoes to trip him up, he's probably gone.

The third, from the same drive, following the two-minute warning, was a crucial third down and five screen pass to Derrick Ward, who was tackled just shy of the marker by Darren Howard. Held them to a field goal.

And in the first minute of the second half, where a McNabb pass deflected at the line ended up in the hands of Fatty McGee, aka Fred Robbins. He slid through a tackle, got a couple of blocks, and he was on his way to the end zone. If Kevin Curtis doesn't get enough of him, that's six the other way, scored by the defense, to start the second half. It was redemption for the wide-open doink off the man's helmet from the first half. And I know you know what I'm talking about.

And kudos to the offensive line. Three games against the Giants this season, and zero sacks. Good thing Winston Justice wasn't out there.

Now, can we talk about Donovan's stupidity? That whole sequence of events was what I like to call Stupid All Around. Play call to do a pass play: stupid. Running out of bounds when you need the clock to run: stupid. Running out of bounds when you need the clock to run and not even getting the first down: stupid. PICKING UP THE PHONE ON THE GIANTS SIDELINE AND PRETENDING TO TALK? Are you kidding me?

That, combined with owner Jeffrey Lurie coming down to the field and pumping his fist in celebration made me so upset. I had flashbacks to the game a couple seasons back where we were up on the Giants 28-7 in the 4th quarter and lost in overtime. I could just see the story being written...

But thankfully, now it's just an asinine footnote on a triumphant day.

And hopefully, this Sunday will be yet another one.
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Other Musings: The Giants without Plaxico Burress are a very, very different team, and everyone agrees. When he shot himself in the leg, he shot their season in the foot.

You have to love Brian Dawkins getting all emotional. He knows that this is all a pretty big deal.

You also have to love Brandon Jacobs saying in a postgame interview that he's "on the bandwagon" and that he doesn't think anyone's gonna beat us.

Who else is sick of Joe Buck? "Here come the Giants." Dude, shut up. At least we have Merrill Reese. I can't stop listening to his call of the Westbrook touchdown from last week. (If you haven't heard it, click here, and go to 4:30 of the clip.) Even Merrill doesn't usually get that excited.

Anyone else see Andy Reid in the locker room after the game? Awesome.

Love the new Pizza Hut commercials telling you to "choose real taste." I prefer my taste fake, thank you very much.

And finally, I can't believe there's an Angry Whopper. I think it's hysterical. Can I order that with a side of gravely-disappointed fries and an elated Coke?

Bigplayability

You heard Troy Aikman say it and, admit it, you thought of me.

The Hall of Fame quarterback and Fox NFL analyst said something about the Eagles having "big play ability," which sparked a conversation where I was watching the game about how many words that was, and the various permutations of each.

Whatever Aikman meant by it, it didn't matter to me. He'd given me my new favorite phrase and, once Sunday's 26-14 victory over the Vikings was concluded, the title of this week's entry.

Watching the game was an interesting experience, a game that could've ended just as easily in a loss as it did in our favor. One person wrote into ESPN: "Too bad for the Vikes. This Eagles team was right there for the taking." And perhaps that's true. It also could've ended in an Eagles blowout, if some early drives had been cashed in for six instead of three. So, to be honest, I'm still not totally sure what to make of this game.

First, the frustrations:

Was it just me, or did every single call in the game go against us? The sack that wasn't a sack that knocked us out of field goal range? Maybe it just felt that way.

The running game never really got established. Now let's be fair: the Vikings had the best rush defense in the league, and the Metrodome is one of the most difficult places to play. Westbrook had just 38 yards on 20 carries. Eek. And Andy Reid, once again studying logic in order to depart from it 180 degrees, barely used Correll Buckhalter, the offensive MVP of the Dallas Destruction. The box score reads that he had two carries for 27 yards, and that his long was 27 yards. Maybe think about getting the ball into the hottest hands on the team? Even if Westbrook is 100 percent, Buckhalter should be in there for, say, 10 carries a game. All the more so if Westbrook is not.

The defense was once again really solid, but missed at least three or four opportunities to come down with interceptions that might have put the game away sooner.

However, when you have bigplayability, it only takes a couple of things going your way to make all the difference. Asante Samuel's 44-yard interception return for a touchdown was vintage Asante. I felt like I was having deja vu to every other Asante pick six I'd ever seen a highlight of. Only this one was in Eagles white and green. And did you see the Chris Clemons block on Tarvaris Jackson? WOW. Dude got picked up and pancaked.

And then Westbrook broke off the biggest play of the season, taking a screen pass 71 yards to paydirt. You had to love this for so many reasons, not the least of which was the entire team effort blocking all the way downfield, including help from receivers Kevin Curtis and my boy (yes, I wrote that) DeSean Jackson. Big-play-ability. On a side note, did anyone else notice how close the pass was to hitting Nick Cole in the back? Can you imagine if it did? I don't want to think about it. I wished I had a direct line into Reid's headset to say, "Look at that! A screen pass! We've only been saying it for months!"

Many said it would be a game of field position, and it was. Special teams came up big, and we won that battle pretty handily. Might've been the biggest difference in the game.

And the defense deserves more kudos. They have been the constant this season, and while I wouldn't go so far as to say they shut down Adrian Peterson, they certainly contained him. Don't be fooled by AP's numbers. He may have had 83 yards, but 40 of them came on one play. 43 yards on 19 carries? You can't be unhappy with that.

Not that anybody ever does, but I really have no clue what's going to happen this Sunday at the Meadowlands. The Giants' bye week and the Eagles' momentum could play either way, as we've seen in the last few seasons. I'm feeling hopeful that we'll play a good game, but I'm certainly not about to talk any trash. The Giants are a very good team, probably the better team on paper. But if the defense keeps up its solid play, run blitzing to contain Jacobs and Ward, getting some good pressure on Eli, the game certainly has a high level of winability.

We should remember that we shouldn't even be here, that we're really playing with house money, as the expression goes. Our very own Sal Paolantonio in an interview with Donovan after the game, said:

"A couple of weeks ago, your season was marooned. Now it's revived. How did that happen?"

"Well, you know what, you just gotta stay mentally strong, keep faith in God, and understand that there's something positive at the end of the tunnel."

I'm working on it, Donovan. I'm working on it.

Go Birds.
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Other Musings:

The Flyers are a hurt bunch, once again hit by an injury epidemic. If they can survive the next couple of months until they get everyone back, I think they're in great shape.

Interesting that Tampa signed Pat the Bat. That team is going to be really good again, and you have to hope that they win that division again.

In a related report that just came out, the New York Yankees have signed Satan and the Angel of Death. As you can imagine, terms of the deals were not disclosed.

In the ongoing battle between the cable companies for the dumbest ad campaigns, Time Warner's new ads advertising its calling plan might just take the cake. Why should you sign up for their plan? Cause in one moment, you're in your parents living room, in another somewhere else! So, I should sign up because Time Warner will ensure my telephone works...like a telephone? Amazing. Truly amazing.

My new favorite commercial is the LeBron James State Farm commercial, with the huge old-school shout-out to Kid n Play. Check it out.

I've been saying it for weeks, and no one's been listening. Don't be too shocked if the Baltimore Ravens make it to the Super Bowl.