Closing Time

Seven quick thoughts as we prepare for the nightcap game that will determine the winning team in the Super Bowl...

> Larry Freaking Fitzgerald is now the most productive WR in single-season NFL playoff history. And that's why Giants Fan is still bitter, because Plax Burress does the same thing to the Eagles that Larry just did, albeit not quite so graphically.

> Some will want to roast Donovan McNabb for this one, and yes, he could have been a lot more accurate early and on the last real drive. But he led an offense that scored 25 points on the road, and had a lead in the fourth quarter. I'd say 80% of the failure here today was on the defense, the unit that gave you the most confidence into the game.

> Oh, and David Akers? Dead to me. DEAD.

> For any Eagles Fan that wants to decry individual plays, the fact is that if the refs call the Cards' quasi-fake kickoff correctly, or if DeSean Jackson doesn't force a fumble on the first half pick, the game is too far out of reach to even have drama late. You can't fall down by 18 on the road and make any mistake.

> Can you name a single Eagles' defensive player that played well today? Maybe Abimiri and Trent Cole, but those are both maybes. For the Cards, Adrian Wilson finally made the bright lights. He's good, folks.

> You'd like to take the Non-Spoiled Rotten Fan view here. Five championship games in eight years is pretty great. Winning on the road is tough, no matter who the opponent is. Larry Fitzgerald was just not to be denied.

But dammit, we're all back to where we were in November... wondering if this team will ever be anything more than an exceptionally cruel tease. Wondering why Andy Reid is so good coming off a bye week, and so bad in a championship. Wondering why the LBs can never come through in a big game, or why the play-calling has to be so pass-wacky (47 to 18, though Don did have 375 yards and 3 TDs today) all the time.

Wondering, in short, why they have to be so damned inconsistent. Erratic. Maddening.

So, um, folks? Final Four ain't good enough, not that anyone else will come in and do any better. If you lose Reid and McNabb, you are in single-digit wins and no championship... which is, well, what they did this year, too. Maybe they finally break through next year, but if there's an Eagle Fan out there that will tell you that they were satisfied by this year, or confident about next...

Well, I'd love to be that guy. But I'm not, not anymore. So, final point...

> Resign, Fat Man. (In 2010, after you choke another one.)