PATRIOTS 24, EAGLES 21

3 Points. 3 Lousy Points the difference between the ending of 44 seasons of failure from sweet victory.
It was a gut-wrenching loss in so many ways. Unlike in years past, the Patriots did not come with their A game. The Eagles, therefore, did not need to have brought an A game of their own, merely to have played good solid football with minimal errors. Instead the Birds played a wildly inconsistent game, marked by stretches of brilliance and marred by costly mistakes.

The defense started the game tremendously, shutting down the Pats running attack and knocking Brady out of sync. But the Patriots, as always, adjusted, and were able to move the ball from the middle of the 2nd quarter on. Blitzes were picked up, Deion Branch ran wild, and the D folded three times in the red zone. Still, with the game on the line, the defense rose to the occassion, preventing the game-ending TD, and forcing two critical stops during the thwarted comeback.

The offense rose to even greater heights and sank to even greater lows. After a rocky opening series, the Eagles spent most of the 1st half on the Patriots side of the field. Terrell Owens made all of the nose-bleed pundits who took potshots at him for his valiant rehab look petty and foolish. He was not the dominant force that he is at 100%, but he was at least 81%, and despite his limitations a major factor in the short and medium passing game. The much maligned Todd Pinkston made the 2nd most spectacular catch of the night (unfortunately the top honor must go to Branch's leaping catch over Sheldon Brown) and succesfully stretched the field, while the emerging Greg Lewis made a major impact in his limited time on the field. And Brian Westbrook, despite being stymied as a rusher and returner, proved as dangerous a receiver as always during the game tying 3rd quarter drive.

But in the end the Eagles went as far as McNabb could take them. I cannot recall another QB having as roller-coaster a Super Bowl as McNabb. He made some spectular throws, the scrambling bomb to Pinkston, the two red-zone bullets fired threaded through a needle to LJ Smith and Westbrook, and the perfectly tossed deep post to Lewis. But for stretches of the game he reverted to the old McNabb, as scattershot as he's been in a year and a half - missing low, high and wide, bringing the Eagles West Coast attack to a screeching halt despite the fact that Reid and company had found the soft spots in the Patriots defense. Even worse were the questionable decison-making, ranging from the lame duck toss in the end-zone early in the game to the torpid "five-minute drill" offense late in the game (although to be fair, there are reports that McNabb was playing through exhaustion or dehydration to the point of "puking" during the last two drives).

Even worse was the game by Andy Reid. The clock-management on the final drives of each half were unprecedently bad for a coach who rarely makes mistakes as a result of oversight (case in point - the successful early challenge that reversed a McNabb fumble). Rather than trust his defense with getting the ball back, Reid gambled on the on-side kick, and then doubled down with a dubious decision not to send a returned deep for the final punt.

I imagine, therefore, that plenty of idiots have been calling WIP in the past 48 hours, asking for the heads of the Eagles QB and head coach. To who I say - suck it up! If it weren't for McNabb and Reid, you wouldn't have any conference championship or Super Bowl losses to complain about. Do you forget the likes of Ty Detmer, Rodney Peete and Bobby Hoying under center, or Rich Kotite or Marion Cambpell on the headset. What about the collosal underachievement of Randall Cunnigham and Buddy Ryan, who could never get a star-studded group to one NFC championship, let alone four straight and a Super Bowl.

I know how heartbroken we all are right now. I am glad I went home for the game - if nothing more than to see Eagles green at every corner. I clearly did not have an original idea, as I was joined by a dejected mob of green on the train back to New York. But in the end, there must be perspective - and hope. The 2004 Eagles gave all of us a great run. Unlike the 1980 Birds, they did not wither away on the big stage, but instead almost pulled off a major upset of this era's greatest team. They fell 3 points short. But so long as they have Donovan McNabb in his prime and Reid at the helm, they will remian contenders. The Eagles will be back to Super Bowl, perhaps as early as next year, and next time McNabb and Reid will perform at their standard level of excellence. And at last the Philadelphians will have the parade we've waited for for so long. E-A-G-L-E-S !!!