Eagles’ talons too sharp for defending champion
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AFP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 13, 2009 00:00
NEW YORK - One of this season’s best teams in the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles book their place in the NFC final after a win over last year’s Super Bowl champion New York Giants. The Eagles will take on the Cardinals next weekend, hoping to repeat a win in the regular season.
Donovan McNabb ran for a touchdown and threw for another as the Philadelphia Eagles dethroned the reigning Super Bowl champion New York Giants with a 23-11 win on Sunday.
The Pittsburgh Steelers also advanced to the Conference Championship round on Sunday by defeating the San Diego Chargers 35-24 in an afternoon contest.
The Eagles, who engineered two goal line defensive stands on fourth down in the final quarter advance to face the Arizona Cardinals next Sunday.
It will give the Cardinals an opportunity to avenge a 48-20 blowout loss to the Eagles on American Thanksgiving Day.
The winner goes to the Super Bowl on February 1 in Tampa, Florida.
"We play a team that is also playing well," McNabb said of Arizona. "It will be a grind. You got two teams who are putting everything on the line."
The Giants, despite being the No. 1 seed in the NFC, lost for the fourth time in five games to end their season.
New York (12-5) could not get the offence into the end zone during the competitive part of the game for the second straight time against the Eagles. The Giants scored on a blocked field goal return and did not reach the end zone until the final minutes.
McNabb's one-yard scoring pass to tight end Brent Celek on the first play of the fourth quarter made it 20-11.
Team rolling
"Things just started to click late in the first half and in the second half we continued to roll," McNabb said.
The defense then stopped the Giants just short of midfield twice, with Eli Manning failing on a sneak on fourth-and-one and Brandon Jacobs unable to break through the line on fourth-and-two on the ensuing possession.
Akers broke Gary Anderson's NFL postseason record by converting a 17th straight field goal, giving the Eagles a 13-11 advantage midway through the third quarter.
He added a 20-yarder later in the fourth quarter that essentially iced it.
Manning was intercepted by Quintin Mikell to thwart New York's last legitimate hope. The Super Bowl MVP finished 15-of-29 for 169 yards and two picks.
In the American Conference divisional playoff game, Ben Roethlisberger threw for 181 yards including a touchdown as Pittsburgh beat the Chargers. Willie Parker rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns for the Steelers who advance to next weekend's conference championship game against the Baltimore Ravens.
The Steelers have beaten the Ravens twice this season. Parker put Pittsburgh ahead to stay with a three-yard run with 40 seconds left in the first half that made it 14-10. "We made plays when it counted and that took a lot of time off the clock," Parker said. "We wanted to keep our defense off the field."
The speedster tacked on a 16-yard scoring run with 4:11 to play to seal it for the Steelers.
"We put up 35 points tonight and that should shut up the critics," Roethlisberger said. "We showed we can score points when we want to.
"In the second half we didn't punt. That was very impressive." Philip Rivers completed 21-of-35 passes for 308 yards with three touchdowns and one interception for San Diego (9-9), which played without injured running back LaDainian Tomlinson.
"They made more plays than us and we got behind. It was tough. You never want to get behind on road in the playoffs," Rivers said. "This game reminded me a lot of some of the crazy games we had earlier in the year. The first play in the third quarter they got a tip ball and make an interception. And we make a punt and it hits one of our guys in the helmet. It was such a weird third quarter. But we hung in there and had a chance. We just couldn't pull it out. We just fell short."
The Pittsburgh Steelers also advanced to the Conference Championship round on Sunday by defeating the San Diego Chargers 35-24 in an afternoon contest.
The Eagles, who engineered two goal line defensive stands on fourth down in the final quarter advance to face the Arizona Cardinals next Sunday.
It will give the Cardinals an opportunity to avenge a 48-20 blowout loss to the Eagles on American Thanksgiving Day.
The winner goes to the Super Bowl on February 1 in Tampa, Florida.
"We play a team that is also playing well," McNabb said of Arizona. "It will be a grind. You got two teams who are putting everything on the line."
The Giants, despite being the No. 1 seed in the NFC, lost for the fourth time in five games to end their season.
New York (12-5) could not get the offence into the end zone during the competitive part of the game for the second straight time against the Eagles. The Giants scored on a blocked field goal return and did not reach the end zone until the final minutes.
McNabb's one-yard scoring pass to tight end Brent Celek on the first play of the fourth quarter made it 20-11.
Team rolling
"Things just started to click late in the first half and in the second half we continued to roll," McNabb said.
The defense then stopped the Giants just short of midfield twice, with Eli Manning failing on a sneak on fourth-and-one and Brandon Jacobs unable to break through the line on fourth-and-two on the ensuing possession.
Akers broke Gary Anderson's NFL postseason record by converting a 17th straight field goal, giving the Eagles a 13-11 advantage midway through the third quarter.
He added a 20-yarder later in the fourth quarter that essentially iced it.
Manning was intercepted by Quintin Mikell to thwart New York's last legitimate hope. The Super Bowl MVP finished 15-of-29 for 169 yards and two picks.
In the American Conference divisional playoff game, Ben Roethlisberger threw for 181 yards including a touchdown as Pittsburgh beat the Chargers. Willie Parker rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns for the Steelers who advance to next weekend's conference championship game against the Baltimore Ravens.
The Steelers have beaten the Ravens twice this season. Parker put Pittsburgh ahead to stay with a three-yard run with 40 seconds left in the first half that made it 14-10. "We made plays when it counted and that took a lot of time off the clock," Parker said. "We wanted to keep our defense off the field."
The speedster tacked on a 16-yard scoring run with 4:11 to play to seal it for the Steelers.
"We put up 35 points tonight and that should shut up the critics," Roethlisberger said. "We showed we can score points when we want to.
"In the second half we didn't punt. That was very impressive." Philip Rivers completed 21-of-35 passes for 308 yards with three touchdowns and one interception for San Diego (9-9), which played without injured running back LaDainian Tomlinson.
"They made more plays than us and we got behind. It was tough. You never want to get behind on road in the playoffs," Rivers said. "This game reminded me a lot of some of the crazy games we had earlier in the year. The first play in the third quarter they got a tip ball and make an interception. And we make a punt and it hits one of our guys in the helmet. It was such a weird third quarter. But we hung in there and had a chance. We just couldn't pull it out. We just fell short."