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Wild-Card Eagles, Ravens Looking Super, So Far

The Associated Press

Linebacker Omar Gaither and the Eagles looked like a team of destiny in whacking the Giants.

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 12, 2009

TAMPA - If I was a betting man, and thank goodness I'm not, I'd plunk down $10 on a Philadelphia-Baltimore Super Bowl to descend on our fair city a couple of weeks from now.

And I'd bet on Baltimore to win.

The Philadelphia Eagles looked every bit like a team of destiny is supposed to by seal-clubbing the defending champion New York Giants on Sunday at Jimmy Hoffa Stadium. The Eagles should handle Arizona in the NFC Championship Game in Glendale, Ariz., although people who dismiss the Cardinals should beware.

Of all the weekend's upsets, Arizona's 33-13 blasting of Carolina should have raised the most eyebrows. The Panthers were a chic pick to win the Super Bowl in a lot of corners, but they just got humiliated in their own house. More on that in a bit.

Pittsburgh restored order to a wacky weekend by handling San Diego, 35-24, but, to me, Baltimore looked just overpowering defensively in beating Tennessee. The Ravens got the benefit of an absolutely wretched noncall late in the game. That's the breaks.

You win with defense, and the Ravens have the best one.

Here's a hunch what lies ahead on Sunday in the conference title games.

PHILADELPHIA AT ARIZONA: The Eagles tore Arizona apart, 48-20, in November, but that doesn't mean much now. The Cardinals are a different team, and you could just see the confidence they played with in destroying Carolina.

Quarterback Kurt Warner is playing with the same swagger he did in leading St. Louis to a Super Bowl crown back in the day, and the defense forced an astonishing SIX turnovers in routing Carolina.

Add to that the first-round victory over a smoking-hot Atlanta team and you could say the Cardinals have that certain look that championship teams get.

Receiver Larry Fitzgerald might be the best weapon left in the playoffs, and the Cardinals could get receiver Anquan Boldin (hamstring) back for this game.

But I like the Eagles in this one, for a couple of reasons. Home field means nothing in these playoffs, as the last weekend conclusively proved. Philly is loose, maybe a little cocky, and playing like it really does believe this "destiny" thing.

The Eagles needed everything to fall into place the final day of the regular season (remember, Bucs fans?), and everything did. Since then, the Eagles have been a runaway train. They stopped the Giants twice on fourth-and-short runs.

This is the fifth time in eight years that Philly has made the NFC title game. The Eagles usually lose when they get there – three times out of the previous four – but not this time. Donovan McNabb, now revitalized after being benched this season, leads Philly to Tampa and the Super Bowl.

BALTIMORE AT PITTSBURGH: This might be one of the most brutally physical games in years, and it's tempting to go with the Steelers.

After all, Pittsburgh swept the regular-season series – 23-20 at home in overtime and 13-9 in Baltimore last month.

This game will be more of the same, except Baltimore will win a low-scoring slam-down at Heinz Field. Just call it a hunch. It's hard to beat a good team three times in one season, and these Ravens are real good.

They're also real lucky. The back judge in the Tennessee game zoned out at a critical point Saturday, allowing the Ravens to proceed with a play on third-and-2 with 2:52 to play in the game even though the play clock had clearly expired. The game was tied.

The Ravens converted the first down and went on to kick the game-winning field goal.

Overlooked in the controversy is that they held the top-seeded Titans to 10 points in Nashville. I think the Ravens can stop Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, and I just love the poise showed by Ravens rookie QB Joe Flacco.

Flacco isn't flashy, but he doesn't make a lot of mistakes. If he doesn't get swallowed by the moment, and I don't think he will, then the Ravens will pull out another low-scoring game in Pittsburgh and move on to Tampa.

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