That's right, the Eagles and the Cardinals.
Not the former-defending champion New York Giants and not the "all-star" Dallas Cowboys, but the Philadelphia Eagles and the Arizona Cardinals.
You know, the Eagles and quarterback Donovan McNabb who didn't know that a game could end in a tie, not to mention became the first six seed in the NFC to beat a top-seed. And the Arizona Cardinals who have lost for what seems to be ages, and had their first, and now second, home playoff games since 1949.
You know, the Eagles and quarterback Donovan McNabb who didn't know that a game could end in a tie, not to mention became the first six seed in the NFC to beat a top-seed. And the Arizona Cardinals who have lost for what seems to be ages, and had their first, and now second, home playoff games since 1949.
Yeah, those two teams. Who would've thought right?
Both teams will play for the NFC title for the first time since 1947, when the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the then-Chicago Cardinals for what was the NFL Championship.
The pressure, however, will be on Philadelphia as they look for their first Super Bowl appearance in five years, and their first Super Bowl victory in franchise history. Philly beat Arizona in week 13 48-20, a week after McNabb was benched in the Eagles 38-7 loss in Baltimore.
The Eagles are considered the favorite this time around, and technically, the better team, which might go against them since we saw three favorite teams lose, especially in the NFC (Falcons, Panthers, Giants). Besides, Philly has that beard-look going for them.
Arizona has pulled the upset numerous times this year. Besides winning the division, despite how weak the NFC was this year, they beat the Falcons in the wild-card, and upset Carolina last Saturday in the divisional playoff. Arizona also has a higher passing average than the "high-flying" Eagles. Arizona has averaged 292.1 yards a game passing compared to Philly's 244.4 passing average.Arizona's advantage? They're playing on borrowed time. Nobody ever thought the Cardinals would make the playoffs, let alone get to the NFC Championship. If Arizona wins, they only tack on more borrowed time for the Cardinals.
Both quarterbacks have been on fire this postseason and both team's defenses have been clutch.
We're in for an interesting treat on Sunday.
By the way, time to start taking bets for Detroit to be the "Cinderella" next year.
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