The NFC Championship Game was played yesterday in Philadelphia for the first time since 1981. With 66,713 frenzied Eagle fans screaming at the start, Brian Mitchell took the opening kickoff 70 yards to the Tampa 26-yard line. Two plays later, Duce Staley ran it in from 20 yards for the game's first touchdown. The TD sent the already loud crowd into complete pandamonia and they roared their approval and sang the rendition of "Fly, Eagles Fly" louder than any other time in Eagles' history. It was 7-0 and the game was barely 52 seconds old. It was all too easy. Donovan McNabb hadn't even thrown a pass yet and the Birds already had a touchdown. Could it be after 22 long years of no championships that the Vet's faithful were gonna have a big party after the Eagles finish off the Bucs. After a pretty good return by the Bucs Aaron Stecker out to the Tampa 33-yard line, Tampa drove the ball 37 yards before the Eagles defense finally held. The drive was sustained mostly by a big third down conversion on a short Michael Alstott run. Though the Bucs settled for a Martin Gramatica 48-yard field goal, the drive set the tone for the Tampa offense the rest of the half and into the third quarter.

Brian Mitchell struck again on the ensuing kickoff with another fantastic return of 43 yards to the Eagles 44-yard line. Three plays and out later, the Eagles were forced to punt. That was basically how it went all game for Donovan McNabb and the Eagles' offense. But Bobby Taylor made another great read and intercepted a Brad Johnson pass and returned it to the Tampa 47-yard line giving Philadelphia another golden opportunity to score more points. But three plays and out again forced the Birds to punt again. This time, Lee Johnson's punt was downed inside the five at the 4-yard line by Dameane Douglas. It seemed that the Eagles had Tampa right where it wanted. The fans cheered loudly to get the Eagles defense pumped and then Brad Johnson hit Joe Jurevicius on a short crossing pattern, which he ran it 71 yards all the way down to the Eagles' 5-yard line. Two Michael Alstott runs later and Tampa Bay took a 10-7 lead. The crowd went silent for the first time all game. It was only the beginning of the end for Philadelphia. The Eagles did manage to tie the game at 10-10 on a David Akers 30-yard field goal. But soon afterwards, Brad Johnson led the Bucs on a methodical 12-play, 80-yard TD drive keyed by 3 passes to Keyshawn Johnson, the last culminated in a 9-yard touchdown pass with only 2:28 left in the half. The half ended after a furious Donovan McNabb run 2-minute offense. He completed 3 straight passes for 36 total yards and the Eagles were in business at the Tampa 24-yard line with a first down and 2 timeouts left. After 2 penalties, an incomplete pass to Duce Staley and another short run by Staley, the Eagles had a 3rd-and-16 situation. Donovan went back to pass, but it was his old high school buddy, Simeon Rice who hit McNabb from behind causing the fumble which was recovered by Rice himself. The half ended with Tampa in the lead at 17-10.

In the second half, Gramatica added a 27-yard FG with only 1:02 left in the third quarter extending the Bucs lead to 20-10. McNabb never gave up, trying to will the Eagles offense to move the ball downfield. He failed time after time. Then with only 6 minutes left, Donovan McNabb drove the Birds downfield pushing the team into a potential scoring position which could cut the lead to 20-17 with 3 ½ minutes left and all 3 timeouts. It was Ronde Barber who broke in front of a McNabb pass intended for Antonio Freeman and ran it back for a 92-yard touchdown interception return. That was the final straw as the Vet's 66,000 faithful quickly took to the exits. They were cursing and swearing the Eagles as we all headed home. Some fans even kicked over trash cans, but that was the worst. It was a heartbreaking loss for the fans and players alike. It was total jubilation for the men in white and gold. You can blame the loss on Andy Reid for his first half conservative play calling. You can blame it on Jim Johnson for not allowing the Eagles defense to blitz and the Eagles defense for not putting on hardly any pressure to Brad Johnson. Brad Johnson completed 20-of-33 passes and 259 yards and 1 TD pass. His counterpart threw the ball 49 times, completing only 26 for 243 yards, 1 TD and also 1 very costly INT. Just like last year, when the Eagles needed a big play late in the fourth quarter, it was a McNabb interception that ended the Eagles' Super Bowl dreams. But it was not the biggest reason why the Eagles lost. The Philadelphia Eagles had 8 drives inside Tampa Bay territory, including possessions down to the 32, 30, 24, 19, 12 and 10 that totaled only 3 points. Two very big turnovers were the main reason for their inability to score. Maybe a healthy Donovan McNabb would of escaped both of those fumble-caused plays by his buddy, Simeon Rice getting a first down with his feet. Would of? Could of? Should of? Tampa Bay won the game 27-10 and now win the right to play the Oakland Raiders next week in San Diego in Super Bowl XXXVII. We came out like a house on fire, but the Bucs extinguished that fire with two long first half TD drives. They also won in the freezing cold too. It was only 22 degrees and windy. Better luck next year????