If N.D. Kalu had a half of a second more before John Baker's punt with under 3 minutes left, we may have been looking at the Philadelphia Eagles against the New England Patriots in this year's Super Bowl. If! Most Eagle fans thought that Donovan McNabb when given the ball at their own 45 yard line with 1 timeout and 2:20 left on the game clock, that the Eagles would drive down the field and pull out victory in the jaws of death. Both did not happen and it is the St. Louis Rams who are the 2002 NFC Champions. As a fan, I have this deep empty feeling which happens every year, the minute after the Eagles would be eliminated from winning the Super Bowl. Though, there were worse feelings at season ends, this hurts just the same as I could see the look on Donovan's face as he celebrated an unlikely Eagles victory in that damn noisy dome. The worse defeats of my day still go back to 1978 and 1979. In 1978, it was a botched last second gamewinning field goal which did in the Eagles in Atlanta. Then in 1979, many people picked the Eagles to go to the Super Bowl, but we lost an agonizing defeat to those surprising Tampa Bay Bucaneers. This year hut too. Back to the Rams game. I never heard of any other dome or football stadium that plays loud music on every play simply to distract the other teams' play calling capabilities. In fact, in Philadelphia, there is no need for music at all as Eagle fans do just fine without the music. Those fans must be a bunch of p---ies in Saint Louie or management is simply scared to death. I hope the NFL does something to stop the league's only music playing stadium to play music only during timeouts as it was very distracting trying to listen to the game on TV.

That is my only excuse, but even that excuse was not enough to help the Eagles win this game. The Eagles biggest problem was Marshall Faulk in the second half. He finished the game with 159 yards rushing on 31 carries. Yes, the Birds did not blitz enough, but I think they held their own versus the Rams passing attack as they allowed only one pass over 20 yards and that was a 20 yard pass which setup the Rams first field goal. The Eagles non-pressure on Kurt Warner did hurt a little, but not as much as people are crying. It was those two time consumming drives which led to 9 points in the third quarter and the inability of Donovan McNabb to get anything going in the second half until there was less that 7 minutes left in the game. For the most part, McNabb played as well as one could in this pressure cooker of a Championship game. He was not as sharp as in his two victories. The Rams defense gave him more problems as they held him in the pocket longer and the the Rams coverage was outstanding. And when he did try to escape, more often than not, he did not pick up the first down. He did complete 18 of 30 passes with 1 touchdown and 1 INT. That 1 INT did effectively end the game and the season for the Birds. But they had their chances. they had the ball when it mattered most with a chance to win the game in the closing minutes. They stopped the Rams with under 3 minutes left just to have a chance to win the game. And N.D. Kalu almost won the game for the Birds on that almost perfect dive to block that punt. But it went all for not. The Rams won 29-24, scoring more points against the Eagles defense than the Eagles' last 35 opponents, including themselves. They only scored 20 points in this year's opening game, and that in OT.

The Eagles were hurting on defense as the teams' spiritual leader, Troy Vincent was playing on a pulled groin and was ineffective in his coverage. Then Damon Moore went down with a knee injury. We later found out he tore his ACL and will need reconstructive surgury. Hollis Thomas has been missing since the Giants game with a broken foot. Corey Simon and Paul Grasmanis are both playing hurt too. All the injuries did have an effect on not allowing them to blitz as they would like and hindered their rush defense against the NFL's best running back in Marshall Faulk. Donovan and company will be back next year. Their goal though should be first to clinch the home field advantage which will make the trip back to the NFC Championship easier and then perhaps in our really hostile home that we call the Vet, the Eagles will prevail. It would also be the very last game ever to be played in the Vet by a Philadelphia football team before they then move into their new stadium for the 2003 season. The Eagles will have a slightly easier schedule next season. Though they still must play the Rams, Bucs, Bears and Niners again next year. The Eagles may be better than them all if they do the right things in the off-season. Number one on the list should be the long term signing of Jerimiah Trotter. Then they should go after Cris Carter. The minute I saw him denounce Minnesota, I thought his first choice would be to come back to Philly. It made sense as he started his career here and his two business partners are Troy Vincent and Bobby Taylor. The Eagles could use another defensive tackle or maybe to sign a stud defensive end. Brandon Whiting then could be moved back inside where he is more comfortable. If they do not plan on signing Mike Caldwell, then an outside linebacker is a necessary. I think we are set at running back with Duce and Correll sharing the duties. One other position would be guard. I think at center, Hank Fraley is good enough and if Bubba Miller could come back, that would be even better. But on the whole, we do not really need many changes as that would be messing with the chemistry. Our team has grown together and will only get better. Maybe 2002 will be the "Year of the Eagle".