All the talk around the country, on ESPN, on FOX, on everywhere was this kid QB named Michael Vick. Hugh Douglas said, "I got so sick of hearing about him. I was like, bleep Michael Vick. I couldn't wait for this week to just be over." He also mentioned who is #7? What about #5? Douglas is right. What about #5? Donovan McNabb is the Eagles #5. He showed up ready to play and on the Eagles first offensive series, he broke out of the pocket and scampered up the sideline for a nice 19 yard gain. And nobody said he could run. Shows what the experts know. McNabb rushed 4 times for 24 yards for an average of 6 yards per carry. Vick rushed 6 times for 30 yards and only a 5 yard per carry average. Vick was sacked 3 times, all by different defensive tackles. The Eagles pass rush helped keep Vick in the pocket, while keeping him from making that spectaular play. He did escape once. On that play though as he was ready to enter the endzone, he forgot to look for #20. Brian Dawkins came barreling out of nowhere and hit him so hard, that he went flying in the air for about 5 yards, before landing on his back. Dawkins took his breath away, literally. Too bad that Travis Claridge was caught holding Darwin Walker who had a free shot at sacking Vick anyway. The play did not count and after another unsucessful try on third down, the Falcons tried to kick a FG into the wind. It was wide right by a lot. Brian Dawkins concurred later about that play. He said, "We wanted to make sure that he understood if he scrambled, he was going to be hit. That kind of stuff wears on you after a while. Michael Vick only completed 22-of-38 passes for 274 yards, but with 2 INT's. Donovan McNabb had a great game after missing the last 6 regular season games with a broken ankle. He completed 20-of-30 passes for 247 yards and 1 TD. His passer rating ended up being 103.1.

I was lucky that I got my ticket the day before the game. At the game, you could feel how cold it was and the wind chill made it feel like 12 degrees. The wind was not much of a factor, except with the kicking game. Lee Johnson's first punt went 60 yards and the special teams held Allen Rossum to only 6 yards on the return. The crowd took over & had a helping hand on the game's first TD. With 2nd-and-8 deep in their own territory, the Falcons Michael Vick was forced to throw the ball to Shawn Jefferson as the pass rush hit him, led by Darwin Walker. Bobby Taylor was in postion and took the ball away and ran it into the endzone for an Eagles 7-0 lead, sending the 66,452 faithful into a frenzy. The crowd, cold and turf all helped in securing an Eagles victory. That is why we call it homefield advantage. Corey Simon said it best, "From the time we stepped out on that field for pregame warmups until the end, when the clock read zero, the fans stayed in it. They did a great job. This is why we worked so hard all offseason, this is why we tried so hard to get wins during the season, to play in front of this crowd. It's got to be tougher for teams to come here on the road and play here." The crowd caused 2 unnecessary timeouts for the Falcons offense in the first half. And Reid added, "The crowd was awesome. It was electric."

As the howling crowd roared in support, the Vet's other legeds came into play. The cold and wind effected the kicking game, forcing a big miss as Jay Feely missed a relatively easy FG of 37 yards which would have cut the Eagles lead to 13-9. The turf also caused numerous injuries to the vistors. Two starters in the Atlanta secondary, free safety Keion Carpenter and cornerback Juran Bolden were both carted off in the opening minutes of the game. Falcons tight end Alge Crumpier said he sprained both ankles during the game. Warrick Dunn said, "The turf here has always been bad. I slipped on the first play of the game. It's no secret around the league how bad the turf is here. It's the worse." Dunn, by the way had another less than average game on the ground. He only rushed for a total of 56 yards. the Bucs will have to deal with the cold weather, turf and an even more hostile crowd next Sunday. There is also a possiblity of a major winter storm moving in just before the weekend. Tampa Bay has lost their last 4 straight games against the Eagles, including twice the last two years in the playoffs. Tampa Bay actually broke the cold temperature streak by winning in Chicago 15-0 on the last game of this season. They are now an all-time 1-21. But this is not Chicago, but PHILADELPHIA! The turf was cold and slick all game against the Atlanta Falcons and would be even worse if that snowstorm hits this week.

The Philadelphia Eagles passed the first test against a very pesky and competive Atlanta Falcons team. The Eagles started off fast after Bobby Taylor gave the men in midnight green an early 7-0 lead. David Akers added a couple of FG's to hike the lead to 13-0. It seemed as the crowd was getting louder and the score more favorable in the Eagles direction, that this could turn into a rout. Jay Feely, hwoever added 2 field goals for his team, with the last one at 52 yards with a strong wind behind his back and 0 seconds left in the half. The score read, Eagles up 13-6 at halftime. Atlanta started the 3rd quarter pretty fast as the Eagles offense stalled. The Falcons moved the ball between the redzones with ease, but the defense always seemed to hold when Atlanta was ready to threaten or enter the redzone. Donovan McNabb finally finished off those "Dirty Birds" when he engineered a 10-play 75-yard drive. The drive seemed to end at the Falcons 35-yard line on a 4th-and-1. The Eagles called timeout and decided to go for it. Andy Reid called the same play which failed on third down. McNabb rolled out to his right, Duce Staley picked up a big block and Donovan connected to James Thrash in tight coverage from Ray Buchanan. Thrash broke loose from the tackle and sailed into the endzone for an easy touchdown. The TD gave the Eagles a 20-6 lead with under 5 minutes left. You could feel the fans releasing their energy after that as it now seemed that that the Philadelphia Eagles would win this tough game against a determined Falcon bunch and advance to the NFC Championship Game next week at Veteran's Stadium. If Donovan and the rest of the offense was more proficient, this game would not have been as close. The Eagles receivers dropped too many passes and a couple of costly penalties stopped the Eagles' drives too. Atlanta will be back next year. Tampa is coming here again this week. The better team will win the NFC Championship, and if the Eagles stay away from forced turnovers and play the way they are capable of playing, they will win. The Eagles this year are the better team. The Eagles had only one goal this year and that was to win and go to the Super Bowl. Anything less than a win this week will feel like a failure. 32 other teams share the ultimate goal of getting to the Super Bowl each year. Only a handful of them truely have a shot. In the NFC from the beginning of the season till now, the Philadelphia Eagles have been the odds on favor to make it. They also now have the highest odds in winning it all at 5-2. A berth in the Super Bowl is their only goal now. ONE MORE STEP TO DESTINY.....