The Eagles traveled out to Minnesota and played just good enough to win the playoff game under some tough and loud conditions. In the first half, you could see that the noise was bothering QB Donovan McNabb to the point to cause some confusion in pass protection. The Vikings defense played great and much better than I ever would of thought and what most people had figured. They held a dangerous Brian Westbrook to just 38 yards rushing on 20 carries. That’s a 1.9 yds/carry average. The other Eagles running back, Correll Buckhalter had just 2 carries and gained 27 yards (13.5 yds/carry). And even with all the pressure that the Minnesota front brought to McNabb, hitting the QB time after time, rushing his throws, sacking him 3 times and they even forced a fumble and one INT. But through it all, McNabb fought through all the adversity and still completed 67.6% of his passes (24-34) and threw for 300 passing yards. The Eagles offense played good enough to win this playoff game. The Minnesota offense was ineffective most of the game, but at one point, the team converted 7-of-11 of the third down plays. The Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson did not have a really good game, completing only 15-of-35 of his passes for 164 yards. He also threw one very costly INT that the Eagles Asante Samuel jumped the route of the Viking receiver and scored his 5th TD return of an INT in the postseason, an all-time NFL record for the playoffs.

This playoff game was won with lots of big plays. First, you had DeSean Jackson returning punts (5 of them) for 109 total return yards, including 2 big back-breakers: a 62 yard return in the first quarter that set up the Eagles first FG. His second big return was a 30-yarder late in the third quarter that gave the Eagles good field position at the Vikings 40-yd line. Two plays later however, Vikings DE Jared Allen sacked McNabb for the second time and caused the Eagles QB to fumble the ball. The ball was recovered by the Vikings. Minnesota trailing at the time 16-14failed to take advantage of their good fortunes and were forced to punt. It was a great punt by Chris Kluwe pinning the Eagles at the 4-yd line. But Donovan McNabb came up and made some really nice plays, completing a 12-yd pass to Jason Avant. Then he found Kevin Curtis for 14 yards. The Eagles eventually were forced to punt, but not before the offense generated 42 yards and 3 first downs. The Eagles punter in Sav Rocca also had a big game, punting 4 balls for 44.3 yards average himself. The Eagles defensive front clamped down again on the Vikings offense, and forced a punt. The Eagles defense really shut down any offense that Vikings would try to muster in the second half, holding them to just 103 total yards. Even their star running back failed to rush for 100 yards. Adrian Peterson managed just 83 yards on 20 carries. Take away that one 40-yd TD rush and he would of just had 43 rushing yards.

After that last pump, the Eagles ultimate weapon finally stepped up and made the big play of the entire game. On their first play from the Eagles 29-yd line, Andy Reid called for a screen pass. McNabb just beat the blitz on him, and still managed to complete the short pass to Brian Westbrook. The Eagles back took the pass and cut back and dashed his way through the entire Vikings defense, then just exploded to the endzone for a big 71-yard back-breaker TD. That made the score 23-14. After a Tarvaris Jackson fumble, the Eagles kicker David Akers added his 4th FG of the game. This one went for 45 yards. Then it was just a matter of killing the clock. The Eagles won the second half on just defense alone just like they did last week against the Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles biggest stars on defense once again came up big. BRIAN Dawkins and Trent Cole both led the way to victory. Cole led the game with 13 tackles (7 of them solo). And the team’s official leader and cheerleader, the perennial pro-bowler safety had 6 tackles, a sack and another forced fumble. He also almost knocked out Adrian Peterson with one of his hardest hits of the season. Dawkins was flying around everywhere, hitting anybody that moved in purple. Players like Westbrook, McNabb, Jackson, Samuel, Dawkins and Cole all made the plays to ensure that the Philadelphia Eagles would need to advance to the NFC Divisional round to face the New York Giants. And don’t forget about the kicker David Akers, who with his 4 FG’s passed George Blanda into sole possession of third place all-time NFL playoff history in field goal kicking. The Eagles are running on all cylinders, with a good offense, great special teams and a very dominating defense. A defense that ranks 3rd in the NFL in overall defense. A defense that could lead a team to the Promised Land. And with a very hungry QB in Donovan McNabb, anything is possible.