One Giant Victory

Ali-Frazier. Gatti-Ward. Back to the Future.

Those were great trilogies. However, this one was like Sugar Ray Leonard versus Roberto Duran. Fortunately for the Eagles, Eli Manning, like Duran, didn’t show up for the last two fights.

Last week, before doing much statistical analysis, I figured the game between the Eagles and the Giants would be a tight battle, but as the week went on, I saw less and less information that said these Giants would be able to keep up with the Eagles.

I saw that in the five games since Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg, Manning had just one 200-yard passing day, and tossed a touchdown every six quarters during that span. By game time, I was more confident than ever, and predicted on WBCB 1490 AM that the Eagles would win by at least a touchdown.

Don’t get me wrong, if Burress was on the field, this game would have been a thrilling fight, one that I don’t think the Eagles would have won. If he was playing, I’m certain that at least a few of the Giants’ five field goal attempts would have been touchdowns instead. With Burress, Manning is a Pro Bowl quarterback with a Super Bowl ring, but without Burress, he is a turnover-prone quarterback being carried by a strong rushing attack and a solid defense, The problem for Big Blue was the best defense in the NFC made the G-Men pay for it.

The Eagles’ defense may not have done a consistent job against the run, giving up 138 yards, but they baffled Manning, and were brilliant when it counted most. They picked off two passes, forced a fumble, and held the Giants to just a 25 percent conversion rate on third and fourth down, including two amazing stands by the defensive line on fourth-and-short on consecutive fourth-quarter possessions.

On offense, the Eagles looked like two different units. For the first 28 minutes of the game, the Birds played not to lose and couldn’t move the ball at all, but after the G-Men took an 8-7 lead with 1:33 left in the half, the Eagles opened their playbook and challenged the Giants’ secondary to shut down the highest scoring offense in team history.

At that point, Donovan McNabb had thrown for just 18 yards, but the Eagles drove 68 yards on 11 plays to set up David Akers’ go-ahead field goal. In the third quarter, the offense really opened up, and McNabb used his legs to buy extra time and connect with Jason Avant and Correll Buckhalter for long third down conversions to help put the Eagles ahead for good.

And, for once, the Eagles’ wide receivers successfully executed the game plan, which they needed to because Brian Westbrook was held to just 46 yards on 20 touches. The Eagles’ top three guys—DeSean Jackson, Kevin Curtis and Avant—combined for 12 catches and 164 yards. In comparison, the Giants’ trio of wide receivers did half as well, hauling in just six passes for 80 yards.

Looking ahead to this Sunday, the Eagles will face an Arizona team that they walloped on Thanksgiving Day, 48-20. That game turned the Eagles’ season around after the embarrassing tie to the Cincinnati Bengals and the loss to the Baltimore Ravens. For the Cardinals, they clearly were not fully focused on the Eagles during that short week because they had their division nearly wrapped up, and were coming off a tough loss to the Giants.

Nearly two months later, the Cardinals look like an entirely different team, as they have rushed for 231 yards in two playoff games, which comes after ranking dead last in the NFL in rushing yards, having averaged just 73.6 yards per game in the regular season. On defense, the Cardinals have forced 9 turnovers in the playoffs, but that has more to do with facing careless quarterbacks than the 19th ranked defense in the regular season suddenly becoming a collection of superstars.

Against the Falcons, rookie quarterback Matt Ryan showed his inexperience, turning the ball over three times in key spots. And in their 34-13 win over the Carolina Panthers, Jake Delhomme looked so bad that this might be the last time you see him start a game in the NFL, let alone with the Panthers. Delhomme has always been careless with ball, but most of the time his top wide receiver, Steve Smith, would bail him out. This time, the Cardinals made sure that Smith never got open, forcing Delhomme to actually go through his progressions and find other receivers, which has always been his weakness.

However, against the Eagles, the Cardinals’ defense won’t be able to repeat their successful performances from the first two rounds as McNabb is one of the most careful quarterbacks with the football, having the second lowest interception rate in NFL history.

The key for the Eagles is to start fast, just like they did on Thanksgiving Day, so that they can force the Cardinals to return to their one-dimensional ways. Things tend to snowball on the Cardinals, and they do not play well from behind, as we saw in their games against the Jets, Vikings, Patriots and Eagles, which they lost by a combined score of 186-76.

If the Eagles can jump out early, that will allow their blitzers to pin their ears back, rattle Kurt Warner, and throw their offense out of sync. If the Eagles find themselves in a tight battle, the key will still be the pass rush, and making Warner throw the ball before he’s ready.

Just like on Thanksgiving Day, the Eagles don’t need to come up with sacks, but they do need to lay some hits on Warner and get him out of his comfort zone. If his receivers, which are the most talented group in the NFL, have time to run their full routes, not even the Eagles’ secondary will be able to stop them.

Overall, I think the Eagles’ offense will take care of the ball and put up plenty of points while the defense makes enough stops to keep the game from turning into a shootout. The Eagles’ defense will give up a lot of points in this game, but not enough to prevent the Birds from going to the Super Bowl.

The only way I see the Eagles losing is if Arizona is able to jump out to a big lead early in the game, like they did against the Panthers. At that point, the Eagles would return to their pass-only offense, and I don’t think they would be able to pull off a big comeback against a confident Cardinals team.

Prediction: Eagles win 34-24, and head to the Super Bowl to face the Pittsburgh Steelers, who will beat the Ravens for a third time this year, 16-12.

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Like the “On the Edge” column? Hear more of my opinions about Philadelphia sports every Friday at 3:30 p.m. on WBCB 1490 AM during the Coffee with Kahuna show, where, this week, we will talk about the Eagles’ big victory over the Giants, and what their chances are of winning a third straight road game in the playoffs and making the Super Bowl!