Looking at the Pains of 2008 Again

[LeonardRachiele]

008: Cardinals 32, Eagles 25. The Cardinals were 9-7. They won all six games with the weak NFC West opponents; with other teams the Cardinals were 3-7. An 8-8 record would have won the Western Division. The Eagles were 1/2 game better at 9-6-1.

Ponder five of the Arizona Cardinals losses.

@ New York Jets 56 to 35,
@ home New York Giants 37 to 29,
@Philadelphia Eagles 48 to 20,
@home Minnesota Vikings 35 to 14,
@New England Patriots 47 to 7.

Though this was an away game for the Eagles, our team had the following advantages. Yes I know if one team defeats another during the season, that means nothing if the teams match again in the playoffs.

At 5-5-1 after 11 games, Philadelphia won four of their last five to qualify as a Wild Card team. This streak began on Thanksgiving night with a 48 to 20 win at home over the Cardinals. It ended with a 44 to 6 blowout win over the Dallas Cowboys, once again at home, on Week 17. In between the Eagles on the road defeated the 12-4 New York Giants 20 to 14. After this came two playoff victories on the road. They defeated the Minnesota Vikings 27 to 14 and once again, the New York Giants 23 to 11. It bears repeating; Philadelphia, twice on the road, defeated 12-4 Giants in a five week span.

Well, this one was brutal (aren't they all?). 

It's how they lost that made it so miserable. I called this the Blast Furnace Game. Shortly after the beginning, the Eagles realized they were overconfident, not taking Arizona seriously. It takes awhile to get the furnace white hot. The Birds, as the No. 6 seed in the NFC, won two road playoff games as shown above before heading to Arizona. The Eagles played like crap in the first half, heading to the locker down 24-6. 

After Brent Celek's third-quarter touchdown that made things 24-13, I started playing "Psycho Killer" by Talking Heads on repeat to change up the vibes in my basement. They kept turning the tide of the game, so I left the song on repeat for two hours as the Eagles improbably came back and took a 25-24 lead in the fourth quarter. 

Warner, seven years after he first beat the Birds for a Super Bowl berth in St. Louis, resurrected his career with the Cardinals, and led a nearly eight-minute drive in the fourth quarter, killing the clock. By the time Warner found Tim Hightower for a three-yard TD, there were fewer than three minutes remaining and the Birds' momentum was gone. 

"Psycho Killer," perhaps the most iconic post-punk song of them all, now reminds me of Larry Fitzgerald. Rough. It would be the last NFC Championship Game for the Reid-McNabb Eagles. Fitzgerald absolutely destroyed the Birds here and continued to do so throughout his Hall of Fame-caliber career. I'm not sure any opposing player crushed a Philadelphia sports team quite like Fitzgerald did against the Eagles. 

Villain: Larry Fitzgerald, 152 receiving yards, 3 TDs (felt like he had 400 yards)

[Brian wolf]

Certain postseasons I felt, helped vault some QBs into the HOF ... Van Brocklin in 1960, Namath in 1968, Dawson in 1969 -- though Len was a great AFL QB--and recently, Warner in 2008. Without that postseason, which became a controversial catch away from his second championship, Warner doesnt become the best free agent QB to ever win a SB and make the HOF*. McNabb in my view, was a winner who was snake-bit in postseason and sensitive but would have made the HOF had he had the receivers and runners that Warner had.

*Edited

Like Warner, Anquan Boldin was also a great free agent player with two or more teams who like Fitzgerald, has his own HOF case. I dont believe Fitz will be elected first ballot but we will see ...