THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
"Tight as a drum," said one team official.
What transpired over the course of the morning and afternoon, however, made the tightness and the worry dissipate. When the divisional playoff game was over, the scruffy-faced Reid was relieved, reflective (for him), and ready to make his fifth trip to the NFC championship game, where the Eagles under his leadership are 1-3 and where, this time, they will face the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
"I'm glad to be here, and I want to keep going," Reid said. "This football team wants to keep going. We're going to work our tail off to do that."
Still, Reid was nervous. The Giants had a huge running back in Brandon Jacobs, a slithery back in Derrick Ward, and a challenging defense with Justin Tuck particularly dangerous rushing up the middle.
At 12:56 p.m., Reid jogged onto the field behind his team, then paced the sideline until it was time for the national anthem about five minutes later. He watched the singer, Jordin Sparks, belt out the familiar song, with rookie returner Quintin Demps to his left and veteran safety Brian Dawkins to his right.
As soon as the song was over, Reid shook his hat at Dawkins, then spoke to Donovan McNabb before the coin flip. McNabb called heads. The flip was tails. It was Reid's only bad call of the day.
First quarter. The Giants took a 3-0 lead, which only had to make Reid tighter early in the game. But after an Eagles' punt, Asante Samuel for the second straight week picked off a pass, giving the Eagles phenomenal field position at the Giants' 2-yard line. After Brian Westbrook took a 1-yard loss, the Giants got flagged for holding, giving the Eagles a new set of downs. Westbrook gained 1 yard, and then Reid made a call he wouldn't make earlier in the season: quarterback sneak.
McNabb took the ball, pushed forward through the Giants' defensive line and extended his arms out so that the ball went into the end zone. Touchdown.
"That was real big for him, to just stick with it," veteran offensive tackle Tra Thomas said of Reid. "We got it done."
Second quarter. The Eagles' offense sputtered in the second quarter. McNabb got flagged for an intentional grounding call, when he threw to an empty spot on the field with Giants rushers in his face in the end zone. It resulted in a safety. Then, McNabb threw an interception on a deep ball intended for DeSean Jackson.
When the Eagles' offense got the ball back, they trailed by 8-7 and only 1 minute, 24 seconds remained in the half. The Eagles went no-huddle, and Marty Mornhinweg and Reid started calling for maximum protection from the offensive line and quick passes so that McNabb could get rid of the ball quickly.
Brent Celek dropped McNabb's first pass, but McNabb completed the next five, and 6 of 9 overall, driving the Eagles to the Giants' 7-yard line. After another incompletion to Jackson, Akers kicked a 25-yard field goal to give the Eagles a two-point halftime lead, and some momentum. "They were blitzing like crazy," Reid said. "We just thought we needed to get the ball out of our hands a little quicker."
Halftime. Reid wanted to build on the momentum from that drive in the second half, when the Eagles would start with the ball. He told the team the game was there for the taking, as long as they executed.
Third quarter. The Eagles handed the momentum back to the Giants on the second play of the third quarter, when Chase Blackburn tipped a McNabb pass for Kevin Curtis, and Fred Robbins intercepted it. After another John Carney field goal gave the Giants an 11-10 lead, McNabb took a shot down field for Curtis, who shook his defender, was wide open on the left side and had nothing but green and a safety between him and a touchdown.
But Curtis momentarily took his eye off the ball, resulting in a drop. He was devastated, but two plays later McNabb went back to him for a 15-yard gain. When Curtis got to the sideline, Reid told him "to watch that thing in." Curtis didn't drop another ball, and finished with four catches for 40 yards. "Nothing he told me was anything I didn't already know," Curtis said, "but it's a powerful reminder knowing that you always watch the ball in. I'm a receiver and my job is to catch the ball. You can't ever relax and lose that focus. I was going to make sure I didn't drop another one."
Fourth quarter. Early in the quarter, with a nine-point lead, the Eagles faced fourth and 2 from the Giants' 37. Reid elected to punt, because he thought Sav Rocca could pin the Giants inside the 10-yard line and make them drive the entire field for a score.
"That's pure confidence in the defense from Andy, and that's what we love," linebacker Chris Gocong said.
The decision worked. New York started at its own 11, but couldn't get past the 47. The Eagles scored one more field goal, and that was that.
Postgame. Afterward, Reid told his team to celebrate, but not to forget that their jobs aren't done. In his postgame press conference, he compared defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, who coached from the press box because his back was bothering him, to Penn State's Joe Paterno. And he smiled. A couple of times. "I'll tell you what," Reid said, "I'll take this one."
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