NFC Championship Game

[dthorne04]

Also spenda, how didn't the Phillies deserve it, seriously?

[bigspenda73]

Also spenda, how didn't the Phillies deserve it, seriously?

not what I said, "you guys" i.e. you and Zook do not deserve to get 2 runs at world championships in a year.

[UG]

Also spenda, how didn't the Phillies deserve it, seriously?

not what I said, "you guys" i.e. you and Zook do not deserve to get 2 runs at world championships in a year.

share the wealth man c'mon, throw a bone to Kansas City please

[dthorne04]

oops@spenda, that's not true though, we get no runs for 100 seasons, we deserve 2 imo

[bigspenda73]

if I could foresee into the future and know the Spurs would beat the Lakers in the Western Conf. Finals then I'd be more than happy for you guys. However, I cannot, so FUCK YOU.

[a500lbgorilla]

Very end of the game was awesome. All the celebrating made me smile.

[dthorne04]

nearly 24 hours later and i'm still on epic life tilt. obv. mcnabb didn't exactly throw the best game of his life, but his performance on those three huge drives in the second half were epic. last drive was obv. garbage, though i do wish that PI call went our way with curtis...

on another note, 25 points should've been enough to win that game, and the defense came out fucking flat as can be. season on the line and they came out purely flat, and the last drive by the cards was a mirror image of the first half. samuel playing extremely loose coverage on fitz (lol), the eagles front four not getting really any penetration, sloppy tackling...you name it, they did it. also, fuck you demps for that insanely retarded cheap shot on warner. idiot. i still can't believe they tried to go man to man with fitz so often, LOLLL. jim johnson got fucking outcoached. sad.

to those who want to blame mcnabb, he does deserve some part, but he's way down the totem pole on the list of guys who deserve to bear the brunt of this shit. he brought the eagles back from a huge hole (which he did help to cause). last drive was the suck, so many bad passes to wide open receivers, le sigh

5 NFC Championship visits and no rings? lksaj;dfwekrjla;sjdf

at least desean jackson looks like he's going to be insanely good in the NFL.

larry fitzgerald is going to break records some day. in the 17 years i've been watching football i have never seen anyone like him. watching dawkins and various other eagles defenders bounce off him, having to gang tackle him...holy fucking shit. dude is worth every single penny the cards pay him.

though if the eagles were going to lose to any team, i'm ok with it being the cards. i hope they take down the steelers.

[dthorne04]

also a special fuck you to david akers.

[WildBobAA]

Trade McNabb and a 2nd rounder to the Lions for the #1 pick. You guys can have Stafford.

[a500lbgorilla]

I txted my philly friend saying that Pit held up their end, what happened with philly? He called me immediately and just bitched. Ended the entire rant saying philly would beat pit in the superbowl.

It's just football.

I really like losing big games more than winning them. When you win, it's all smiles and high5s. A mountain of accomplishment. But when you lose, it's the fervent search for answers! The search for someone to blame! And that is just fun.

[a500lbgorilla]

Also holy god does the NCAA need a tourny. It would be so much fun watching VT lose the first playoff game every year after winning the ACC.

[Lukie]

Trade McNabb and a 2nd rounder to the Lions for the #1 pick. You guys can have Stafford.

Well, I would never put anything past the Lions.

[zook]

Just got back, had a great trip despite the shitty result. Flew into Phoenix Saturday afternoon, there were three guys with Eagles jerseys on the plane from San Jose, which was awesome. Texted my buddy who caught a flight from JFK and he said there were at least 15 guys in Eagles jerseys waiting for his flight and they were rowdy. We Philly fans do like to travel. Especially to places that are warm.

I rented a car and headed to the hotel which was only a fifteen-minute walk from the stadium. Everything in the area seemed brand-new, probably all built for the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. Nicest Holiday Inn Express I've ever seen. Picked up my buddy at the airport he showed me the tickets and we did a little dance. Drove back to Glendale, had some dinner and too many beers at Gordon Biersch. Thought about hitting a strip club but the closest one was like 30 minutes away so we decided not to risk a DUI or pay for $50 for a cab.

Woke up kinda early, hungover and drove a half-hour to check out a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Scottsdale called Taliesin West. It was very cool, but not as cool as Fallingwater. Tour took longer than we thought so by the time we got back to Glendale we were cutting it close. Got through the gates ~12:30 and all was good. Tons of Eagles fans. I'd estimate that 5-10% of the stands were wearing green, which doesn't sound like much, but the stadium holds 63,000 so it was a lot of people. Our seats were awesome, top of the lower section, right behind the goalposts. I love the endzone, you get to see what the QB and DBs see and I had binoculars for when they were at the far end of the field. We had 4 Eagles fans directly in front of us, two next to us and 4 behind us and to the left. It was awesome having our own little cheering section.

Obviously the first half was a disaster. McNabb was not sharp, receivers had some drops (f'ing Greg Lewis) and Arizona's offense was firing on all cylinders. I give a ton of credit to Todd Haley, who put together a great gameplan. Jim Johnson got thoroughly outcoached most of the game and that happens so rarely. At halftime I was in shock and felt a little sick to my stomach. Having traveled all that way to watch your team get embarrassed (esp. by the Cardinals) is not a good feeling. We also had some obnoxious girls behind us, taunting, yelling in our ears, talking all kinds of shit. I ignored them for the most part but finally asked the most annoying one if she grew up in Arizona and she said no, New Jersey, but she's lived in AZ for six years. So unsurprising.

Third quarter was amazing, not too much celebration for the first TD but at least they were putting up a fight. Defense finally got some pressure on Warner and forced some 3 and outs. Second TD really quieted the crowd and suddenly an incredible comeback seemed possible. An Iggs fan in front of me started asking all the Cards fans if they were getting nervous. Most of them said yes. Third TD at the beginning of the 4th quarter to take the lead and our Eagles mini-section burst out in celebration. Dancing, hugging, high-fiving, it was awesome. The crowd was hushed, I finally got the chance to taunt the bitch behind us, life was good.

After that, well that's the Eagles for you. I'm probably don't have to explain to some of you fans of other teams, but I never feel confident in the Eagles at the end of close games. They've pulled out way too few of them and blown way too many. Reid and McNabb are some of the worst time-managers in the game. My feeling up 1 point with 10 minutes to go was a mixture of disbelief and relief but not much confidence. Warner and the offense were clutch on their TD drive and again, Haley outcoached Jim Johnson. The Eagles made it interesting on their last drive, and from my poor vantage point live it looked like interference on the last ball to Curtis, but I never really expected McNabb to drive them 80 yards for a TD in the last 3 minutes of the game. It's kind of a shame that Reid and McNabb, who are both in the top 10% of their positions over their careers imo, will most likely be remembered for being unable to win big games, but that's the way sports work.

I left the stadium strangely content. The Eagles made a great comeback and I got to see an amazing game. I was bummed they lost but much less so than if they had gotten blown out, or choked away a big lead. I came away impressed by Cardinals fans, they were fired up and incredibly loud. Except for the girls behind us and one drunk in the bathroom, they were very polite to the numerous Eagles fans. I got a few taunts on the way out of the stadium but I just stuck out my hand and said, "Awesome game, good luck." Then I started a "Let's go PHIL-LIES!" chant.