The emcee at the Home Depot playground build in Tampa this morning cracked a joke that Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner couldn't take part as scheduled because he had a "pretty big" game he was getting ready for Sunday.

Brian Dawkins didn't even crack a smile.

The Eagles' safety admitted that it's difficult to be at the site of Super Bowl XLIII after losing to Warner's Cardinals in the NFC championship game 10 days ago, but he was a finalist for an award presented by Home Depot based on contributions in the community. The winner of the award was Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten.

Dawkins applauded Witten's recognition, then talked about his potential free-agent status and the future of the Eagles.

"I think we'll be able to get something done," Dawkins said when asked about getting a new contract from the Eagles. "That's what I'm hoping, so when that time comes and they finally decide it's time to start talking ... hopefully we'll get something done real quick."

The 35-year-old safety wouldn't reveal what kind of deal or even the number of years he's hoping to receive from the Eagles, but he did say that he expects this to be his final contract.

"Obviously there's a number in my head and my agent's head and when it comes time to talk, we'll talk about it," Dawkins said. "Hopefully, we'll be very close if not right on the same number."

As for the team's future, Dawkins believes the Eagles have the pieces in place right now to be a Super Bowl contender again next season.

"If you look at what we were able to do and the talent we have ... when Kevin (Curtis) got back healthy and 100 percent, you saw what we were able to do," Dawkins said. "Brian (Westbrook) was never healthy and that was a big hindrance to our offense. I think if the line is solidified and everybody is there protecting Donovan (McNabb) and allowing that running game to get going, I think that's a high-powered offense and it's going to be tough for teams to stop. I really do believe that.

"Absolutely you're always going to want to add good players to the puzzle, but do you absolutely need to add. I don't believe that. I think (the team) is in a good place with an if there. If everybody learns from this year and the mistakes that were made ... if everybody does that, both players and coaches, this will be a team to be reckoned with next year. I think we can push for the opportunity to play in the Super Bowl. The thing for coaches and players is we can't go into the offseason saying, 'We're fine and we'll be OK' and forget about some of the things that happened this past year."

If you saw Jon Runyan an hour after the Eagles' NFC championship loss to the Arizona Cardinals Sunday night, you'd have thought he'd be considering retirement.

After weeks and weeks of playing on a sprained right knee, then suffering a concussion on the final play of the game, the Eagles' 35-year-old tackle looked like a worn-down man.

But as the players cleaned out their lockers this morning at the NovaCare Complex, Runyan made it clear that he wants to keep playing and  he'd prefer that it would be with the Eagles. Runyan, in fact, said he had more energy playing this year than he has in the past.

"Actually this year was easier than most," Runyan said. "It hurt a little bit, but more than anything it's an energy issue and going through this year, besides my knee bothering me, I felt pretty good."

He went on to rate his current level of pain as a 12 on a scale from one to 10 and said most players would have shut it down rather than play with the knee sprain he had to deal with on a weekly basis.

"I'll be better in a week or two," he said. "I think the biggest thing is being able to get off of it. Most people probably wouldn't have played with what I've been through, but most people aren't me. That's who I am and that's how I've always approached it. I take a little more pride than most people do."

 Both Runyan and fellow offensive tackle Tra Thomas are among the Eagles' seven potential unrestricted free agents. That group also includes safeties Brian Dawkins and Sean Considine, tight end L.J. Smith, running back Correll Buckhalter and cornerback Joselio Hanson. Receiver Hank Baskett and Nick Cole are both eligible to  become restricted free agents.

Runyan said he wouldn't put a number on the years he still thinks he can play in the league. Before re-signing with the Eagles in 2006, Runyan visited the New York Jets. He said he doesn't have any inkling whether the Eagles want him back and coach Andy Reid declined to talk about the specifics of his own free agents at his year-end news conference.

"I don't worry about that kind of stuff," Runyan said. "You do what you can and you make their job hard. If there job is easy, then it means it's time to go. It would be nice to stick around, but if I got to go I got to go. I still do this better than most. I just hope everybody else feels like that."

Wide receiver Reggie Brown is the Eagles' most notable inactive for today's NFC championship game against the Arizona Cardinals. Brown dressed and Greg Lewis sat last week in the Eagles' playoff win over the New York Giants, but their roles have been reversed today.

The Eagles' other inactives: cornerback Dmitri Patterson, running back Lorenzo Booker, linebacker Joe Mays, defensive end Bryan Smith, guard Shawn Andrews and tight end Matt Schobel. A.J. Feeley is the No. 3 quarterback.

AN HISTORIC DAY

History is going to be made today at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Whoever wins today's NFC championship game will become the first team to reach the Super Bowl without putting together at least a four-game winning streak during the regular season.

Both the Eagles and Arizona Cardinals have won three in a row going into today's title game, which matched their longest winning streaks during the regular season.

One of the two teams will also become just the second team in the 16-game era to reach the Super Bowl without registering double-digit victories in the regular season. The last to do it was the 1979-80 Los Angeles Rams, who lost to Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl.

If the Eagles win and reach the Super Bowl they'll become the first team with a tie to do so during the overtime era of the NFL. The last team with a tie to reach the Super Bowl was the 1976-77 Minnesota Vikings.

SOME WARNER NUMBERS

Not that it has anything to do with today's game, but Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner has had his share of problems dealing with the Eagles in the past.

Warner's career record against the Eagles is 2-4 with his last win coming when he played for the St. Louis Rams in the 2002 NFC championship game. Warner has been sacked 18 times and thrown nine interceptions in his six career games against the Eagles. His overall career passer rating is 93.6 and his career completion percentage is 65.2. He has a 69.3 passer rating and 57.2 completion percentage againnst the Eagles.

THE PREDICTION

Something unexplainable happened on the last day of the regular season and the Eagles, especially their veteran players, know that they were given the opportunity of a lifetime. It's their time to take advantage of it.

The running game that has suffered so far in the postseason will get untracked today and rookie DeSean Jackson will thrive, too. Look for the offense to contribute a lot more to this victory than they did in the previous two.

EAGLES 31, CARDINALS 20

Eagles safety Brian Dawkins has been named one of the three finalists for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, which is presented annually at the Super Bowl. The prestigious Payton Award is presented to a player for both his playing excellence and off-the-field community service work.

The other two finalists are Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner and Minnesota center Matt Birk.

The Eagles' defense knows its mission: get in the face of Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner.

"He has a very, very quick trigger when he releases the ball," safety Brian Dawkins said. "He's never been a guy who takes a bunch of sacks. He's going to get rid of the ball fast. The thing that he does, he throws a very catchable ball. He puts it in a position where his receivers can either go up and get it or he puts it away from the defenders. It's going to be key for us to get pressure on him. We can't allow him to sit back there and pat the ball."

What's going to be fascinating about this mission is how defensive coordinator Jim Johnson goes about implementing it.

The Eagles have spent the last six weeks praising the work of defensive tackles Mike Patterson and Brodrick Bunkley and for good reason. Those two have played a huge role as run stoppers as evidenced by their work on those critical fourth-down stops in the Eagles' win Sunday against the Giants.

In all probablity, those two won't be on the field nearly as much against the Cardinals Sunday. The strength of the Eagles' defensive line this season has been the fact that Johnson has had an eight-man rotation. When opposing teams are in passing downs, Patterson, Bunkley and defensive end Juqua Parker are almost always on the sideline.

Chris Clemons has become the left defensive end in passing situations, while Darren Howard and Victor Abiamiri enter the game as pass-rushing defensive tackles. Only Trent Cole remains on the field for every down.

With the Cardinals, it could be argued that almost every down is a passing down. What were the odds in Vegas that a team that threw the ball more than the Eagles would be hosting the NFC championship. The Cardinals with 630 and the Eagles with 606 were the only teams in the NFL to throw the ball more than 600 times and make the playoffs. The only other teams with more than 600 passes were New Orleans (636) and Denver (620).

Dawkins also talked about the respect he has for Cardinals star receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who led the NFC with 96 catches for 1,431 yards and 12 touchdowns and has been even better in the postseason with 14 catches for 267 yards and two touchdowns.

"I don't know if there's another receiver that plays the ball in the air as good as he does," Dawkins said. "Fitz, when he gets a beat on the ball, you can't have decent coverage on him. You have to be in excellent position and be able to go up and challenge him for the ball because I've never seen a guy be able to contort his body ... and adjust to the ball in the air like him. He's a big guy, he's a physical guy and he brings a lot to the table. Being out in Arizona, I'm not sure people understood how good he is, but I think they understand now."

The message Andy Reid is going to drum into his players as they prepare for Sunday's NFC championship game is that the Arizona Cardinals that showed up at Lincoln Financial Field Thanksgiving night are not the same team that will be hosting them at University of Phoenix Stadium with a trip to Super Bowl XLIII on the line.

"To be honest with you, I didn't think we got their best shot when they were here," the Eagles' coach said at his noon news conference today. "They didn't play good football. They were coming off a tough (home loss to the Giants), it was Thanksgiving Day and they had to travel here.

"This will be a different football team that we will see out there. I have had a chance to go through four games now -- the last four games of their season -- and it's very obvious when you put on the film that schemetically they are doing some different things. They are way more aggressive from a defensive standpoint. Offensively, they've always been aggressive, but they've got their run game going and I think their offensive line is playing better. They're playing very good football right now."

The Eagles, of course, blew out the Cardinals, 48-20, at the Linc and started to put back together their season, which seemed to be on the skids after Donovan McNabb was benched in a lopsided loss at Baltimore.

Veteran running back Edgerrin James, after carrying the ball just 18 times in an eight-game stretch from Week 8 through Week 16, has once again become an integral part of the Cardinals' offense. In two postseason games, the former Indianapolis Colts' star has ran 36 times for 130 yards and a touchdown. He has carried the ball 13 more times than rookie Tim Hightower, who had emerged as Arizona's featured back in the second half of the season.

The Cardinals, of course, are built to throw the football and Larry Fitzgerald has been their postseason star, catching 14 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns in wins over Atlanta and Carolina. Quarterback Kurt Warner, intercepted three times in the game at the  Linc, has a 93.9 passer rating in the postseason, completing 40 of 64 passes for 491 yards and four touchdowns. He has thrown two interceptions.

Reid held a team meeting when the Eagles returned home following yesterday's win over the Giants and he gave the players off today.

The coach said receiver Jason Avant was moving around better today after hyperextending his knee and leaving yesterday's game in the third quarter. Also on the injury front, Reid said Jon Runyan remains sore with a right knee sprain and Brian Westbrook has knee swelling.

"I don't think any of these are too major," Reid said. "We'll just see how they do in the next few hours here."

Despite missing the entire week of practice with a shoulder injury, fullback Dan Klecko will play today in the Eagles' NFC divisonal playoff game against the New York Giants. It wouldn't be surprising to still see Correll Buckhalter used as a fullback at various points during the game.

Tight end L.J. Smith, who missed the last two games with a shoulder injury, will also be active. Smith had his best game of the season at Giants Stadium last month when he caught six passes for 44 yards.

The Eagles' inactives today: tight end Matt Schobel, running back Lorenzo Booker, linebacker Joe Mays, defensive end Bryan Smith, wide receiver Greg Lewis and recently signed cornerback Dimitri Patterson. Lewis injured his ankle last week warming up in Minneapolis, but he practiced all week.

Giants defensive end Jerome McDougle will be active for the first time this season against his former team. McDougle played in the Giants' regular-season finale at Minnesota, which was his first game action since Oct. 13 against Cleveland. McDougle is probably active because defensive end Justin Tuck has been playing with a sore knee.

Two former Eagles, cornerback Rashad Barksdale and defensive tackle Jeremy Clark were among the Giants' inactives.  The rest of the Giants' inactives: running back Danny Ware, linebacker Gerris Wilkinson, tackle Adam Koets, defensive end Dave Tollefson, defensive tackle Leger Douzable and wide receiver Mario Manningham.

PREDICTION. Tried to get this prediction in the newspaper, but the boss didn't think that was a good place for it. After watching the Carolina Panthers giveaway their season to the Arizona Cardinals last night, there's reason to believe that the Eagles can also go on the road and win. Don't  see it happening, however.

GIANTS 20, EAGLES 17.